The Games
by ClaireyL
Summary: One a year, the Riders and the Own have a little compatition to see who really is the best. What happends when Kel and friends get caught up in it and Kel has to face her feelings for a certain Sergent?
1. Morning after the night before

Diclaimer: sigh I really wish I owned it, but unfortunately I'm not Tamora Pierce

Someone was thumping on the door. And they weren't going away.

Kel cracked one eye open and squinted it shut again as rays of sunlight fell onto unused retinas. It must be past dawn, she thought as she slowly sat up and threw the covers off her bed. But I rarely sleep through dawn, why didn't I wake up this morning?

Oh yes, she remembered, Third Company decided she'd been spending too much time with her year mates and had decided to kidnap her for a night of fun. Well, their idea of fun, Kel thought as she winced at the memory of last night.

She had finally managed to sneak away when Dom had finally passed out from too much ale, after confessing his love for Kel, Lerant, Wolset and Peachblossom. Kel had decided to stay off the ale, deciding it was better not to loosen her wits around the men of third company, but it seemed that someone or some people had managed to spike her drinks, and now she had slept late and had a minor headache.

Well, minor compared to the one she'd had after Neal's bachelor party a few years earlier. That night was still one big blur to Kel, and no one would tell her what she did, if she had done anything except curl up in a chair and go to sleep.

Hmm, sleep, that seemed like a good idea. Why had she gotten up again?

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

Oh yeah, the door, the though as she gabbed a robe and pulled it over her nightgown. Looking at the sky, Kel decided it must be between ten and eleven o'clock, very late for her. Wondering who it could be bashing on her door at this time, Kel rushed through her new quarters to get to the door.

She opened it to find a woman wearing the light cotton shirt and worn breeches that were part of the Queen's Riders uniform. The woman had the look of a K'mir, late thirties, in pretty good shape for her age.

"Um, hello," Kel said uncertainly, "Can I help you?"

"Lady Knight, I'm so sorry to disturb you. Buri said you'd probably be up by now. If it's not convenient I can come back later…"

Kel opened the door wider to let the woman in. "Not a problem, mistress…"

"Chamtong. Onua Chamtong," the woman replied.

"Well, Mistress Chamtong, this is a good a time as any. If you don't mind waiting a few minutes for me to get dressed, I'm afraid I had a late night last night."

The K'miri grinned. "You friends in the Own keep you busy?" Kel sent the woman a quizzical look. "I heard the racket that rabble were making when I was on my way to see one of their mounts yesterday evening. Their ostlers a lovely man, but sometimes I don't think he had a clue how to look after horses."

"I hadn't realised we made that much noise," Kel confessed as she disappeared into her bed room to put on some clothes.

"Oh, you probably didn't really. I just think that the Own make a rabble wherever they go. Probably because I work for the Riders, their prejudice seems to have rubbed off on me."

Kel smiled as she pulled on a pair of breeches and a shirt. The rivalry between the Own and the Riders was infamous. Leave a group of them alone in a room, something or someone was bound to get broken, no matter what was in the room to start with.

Kel emerged a few minutes later to find the woman sat in one of her comfortable chairs that adorned to main room. Kel flopped into a chair opposite and then straightened to sit properly. "Now what can I do for you, Mistress Chamtong?"

"Please, call me Onua. Everybody else does." Kel nodded her agreement. "It's about your boy, Tobe. Buri was telling me about him a few weeks back, and the truth is I'm looking for an assistant to help me with the Rider's horses. I'm the horse-mistress for them, see, and I was wondering when if he might be free to help me. My last lad had to leave, he wasn't so welcome after…well we don't need to go into that. I need an assistant, and I fully understand if you want to keep him with you, I mean, he's only young, but both Buri and Raoul say wonderful things about him."

Kel opened her mouth and then closed it again, thinking hard about this. "Would he be stationed at the palace?" she eventually asked.

"I normally take my assistant with me when I go to fetch the new ponies, but that won't be until next spring now. Also we take the trainee's out for a summer camp, but we've already been this year. Apart from that, he should be here all the time, yes."

"What would he be doing, exactly?"

"Helping me, working with the horses, helping the new trainee's look after them until they're competent on their own, looking after spare mounts we keep here in case a Riders mount in injured, making sure all the ponies are healthy. It's basically an ostler's job, but he'll also help train the Rider's how to care for their mounts as well."

Kel nodded, still deep in thought. "Will he get paid?"

"Yes, I make sure the people who work with me get paid to do their jobs."

Kel went quiet again, thinking over what Onua had told her. It was an opportunity of a lifetime for Tobe. He'd get to look after horses, like he always said he wanted to, and if he stayed at the palace he could still see her for training and such.

At last, Kel looked up at Onua. "Let's go and find him. See what he wants to do, and if he's happy to work for you then I'll release him from the service contract he's in."

Onua smiled and waited as Kel lifted herself out of her chair and went to tidy herself up.

-----

A/N: I started writing this too long ago to remember, and every so often I come back to it and write a few more pages. I thought that posting it here might inspire me to actually finish it.


	2. Job offer

Disclaimer: I don't own it, as much as I wish I did.

Kel knew exactly were Tobe would be. Whenever he wasn't at Kel's side, he could always be found by the pages training yard. It was a secret dream of his, to be a page, then a squire and finally a knight.

He knew it wouldn't ever happen, but he could still dream. Truth was that Kel was pretty sure he was better at hand to hand and staff fighting than most of the pages. Ever since Kel had first 'adopted' him on her way to the Scanran war, she'd insisted that he have lessons in defence and fighting. That was over five years ago now, and he'd progressed to being very good at what he did.

Kel's only grievance when it came to Tobe was that she couldn't teach him how to fight with a sword, not that she hadn't tried. Tobe refused to learn, saying that it was a noble's weapon and he was no noble. Kel could see his point of view, but she was also pretty sure that it was also because if he did learn to fight with a sword, he'd be getting closer to fulfilling his dream. Knowing that he could physically do anything a normal squire was required to do to pass his ordeal, but not being able to take the test would crush Tobe, so Kel didn't push the lessons after the first few tries.

Now, as she and Onua approached, Tobe was sat on the fence by the tilting yards, watching the pages practise. It was Tobe's favourite lesson to watch. He loved seeing the horses as they sped down the lanes towards the targets, finally as free as they may ever be.

Kel called a greeting to the training master, Sir Padraig haMinch, who shouted back. Kel liked Sir Padraig. He'd taken over when Lord Wyldon had quit during her years as a squire. After the war with Scanra had ended, Sir Padraig had asked Kel to go and talk to the pages about her time spent in the north, and to teach them the simplistics of the glaive.

Kel had been happy to do both, and glaive lesson were now an optional extra run by Yuki and Princess Shinkocami. Kel had also met the other female pages, trying for their knighthoods. One was now a squire, taken on by one of her year mates, Faleron of Kings Reach. The other two were now a fourth year and second year page, respectively. From what the girls had told Kel, neither had come up against the kind of prejudice that she had during her time as a page, but then again, they didn't have to put up with people like Joren of Stone Mountain.

Kel and Onua climbed up onto the fence with Tobe, and Kel introduced Onua to Tobe. He smiled and shook her hand, willing to listen to Onua's proposal about the job with her at the Riders. Kel, having already listened to what Onua had to say, decided it was time to turn into teacher as she watched a third year try to tilt against the manikin dummy that presented the easiest target. He missed totally and Kel grimaced as the sandbag clouted him on the back as he rode past.

Leaving Onua and Tobe to talk, Kel climbed down the other side of the fence and walked across the tilting yard to where Lord Padraig was watching the pages, giving them advice as they returned to the back of the line. She nodded to him, "My lord."

"Lady Keladry. How nice to see you."

The first time Kel had met Padraig, Kel had expected the kind of abuse that she got from all the other conservatives she had ever met. Cold conversation and hidden looks that told her she wasn't welcome were common place for Kel still, unless she was in her own circle of friends. But, she'd been surprised when the knight had been warm and open to her. It had actually been his idea that she work with the pages. He heard of her work with the refugee's in Scanra, he's seen her tilt at one of the stops on progress; he's talked to Lord Wyldon about her before the old master had left the palace. He'd decided that after what he's seen and heard, someone who put the safety of other before themselves, and the possibility of losing your life to do so, was definitely someone who was worth giving a chance to.

However, he still insisted on calling her 'Lady' and whatever she said he wouldn't use the shortened version of her name. Kel supposed that this was his way of hanging on to his conservative values, but as long as he didn't discriminate when it came to the girls, she was happy.

"I was wondering if you wanted a bit of help. I've left the horse lovers to chat away over there, so I've nothing to do until they've finished."

"Are the Riders interested in Tobe?"

"They need a new assistant for their horse-mistress. I bet you'll be happy to see him leave if he takes the job."

"Actually, I think I'll miss him," Padraig said, surprising Kel. While the Lord didn't complain at the fact that Tobe often watched practise, he had said that he a distraction for the lads. Now Kel thought about it, the training master hadn't said anything for a while. "He's a dab hand with the horses when it comes to tilting. I don't think I've ever seen anybody so good with our four legged friends as your boy there.

"Well now, do you want to help the dunce students or are you going to take your little group of advanced ones over on the ring?" Padraig asked her.

"Actually, I wanted to work with the ones who are falling behind, if you don't mind," Kel said, surprising Padraig. "That third year took a bit of a buffeting from the bag a few runs back. I think I can see how to help him."

"Very well, Keladry. I'll leave them in your capable hands."

-----

Tobe saw Lady Kel as she walked down the hill from the palace to the tilting ground with the woman. He'd never seen the stranger before, but as she get nearer, Tobe saw that she had the same copper fire that he had. Should I talk to her, he asked the pages' horses who stood in line waiting to tilt. She looks like us.

The response he got back seemed to be unanimous. Every horse, except the one Tobe had nicknamed Grumpy, told Tobe to talk to her. When Lady Kel introduced the woman, Onua, Tobe shook her hand, feeling something in her that was like him. The part of him that Daine had told him was his magic.

"Do you know who I work for Tobe?" Onua asked kindly. Tobe shook his head, still shy around strangers, even ones who had magic like his. "Well, I work for the Queen's Riders. It's a group of people that work to help people when they need it. It's a bit like the King's Own in that respect."

"Did Commander Buri work for the Riders?" Tobe asked. He remembered the stories that Buri had told him while he stayed with her when Kel was called away with Third Company for a few days.

"Yes, she did. And I work for them, training the horses and ponies they use. Now, my problem is that I need an assistant to help me look after the horses, but my last one had to leave suddenly-"

"He was caught thieving," Tobe put it.

"Yes, well, his departure has left me without any help. I talked to your Lady Kel, and she says that if you wanted to, I could take you on as my assistant."

Tobe's heart soared with the prospect of getting to work with horses full time, the kind of job he'd dreamed of having, after being a knight of course. Then, suddenly his face fell as he though of leaving Lady Kel behind. Who would make sure she ate properly? Who would look after Peachblossom and Hoshi? Who would give him lessons?

"I'm not sure. I really don't want to leave Lady Kel on her own," Tobe said sadly.

"I didn't think you would, so I though of a way to overcome that problem." Tobe's eyes lit up again. "I only really need an assistant during the summer. In the winter I can probably get by on my own with a little help from a few Riders. And during the summer, at least this summer, I'm going to be at the palace. So, if you wanted to take the job, you could stay with Kel and look after her around helping me."

"Could I?" Tobe asked.

"I think it would work. Then when it comes to the end of the summer, we'll see how you feel about the job and whether you want to take it on full time."

"You'd do that for me?"

"I've only heard good things about you Tobe. If you work half as hard as people say you do, you'll easily earn what I'll pay you."

"That sound really good. But, I'd like to talk it over with Lady Kel first, to make sure she's okay with it and stuff."

"Okay, but in the mean time, I'd like you to come and meet the ponies stabled at the Rider's barracks. Bring Kel along as well if you want."

Tobe nodded enthusiastically. "I'll come over after lunch."

"Make it the second bell after. I want to get some of the new ponies stabled before you get there so you can meet them."

"The second bell after lunch. Will you be in the barracks?"

"Me? No. I like to be with the horses as much as possible."

"The second bell after lunch, in the Rider's stables."

Onua jumped down from the fence and said good bye, leaving Tobe to daydream about looking after horses as he watched his Lady teach the pages to tilt.

----

When the pages finally finished their tilting practise just before midday, Kel felt tired once again. She was covered in mud from the training field and her legs ached from running up and down the field, and half climbing on and off the horses to help the pages get their position right.

She collected Tobe as she exited the muddy field and listened half heartedly as he chattered away about Onua and the Riders as they walked back to the castle. Kel didn't really listen to what Tobe was saying, so when he asked her a question, Kel had to ask him to repeat himself, blushing slightly at being caught when she wasn't listening.

"I asked if you'd come with my after you've eaten lunch," Tobe asked shyly.

"Go with you where?" Kel asked, going an even deeper shade of red.

"To see Onua and the horses at the Riders stables," Tobe said exasperatedly. "I just told you that she asked me to go to meet at the second bell after noon."

"I'm sorry Tobe. I'm still not fully awake and helping with the pages has tired me out again."

"You had a late night?" Tobe enquired.

"The men of the Own are…persistent when it comes to trying to get me to socialise with them."

"Some even more than others?" Tobe asked.

"Oh, Goddess, yes. Dom just wouldn't leave me alone the whole night. He seems to think that he and his squad have some sort of claim on me as theirs, probably because they came to help me when I went into Scanra."

"Yes, I'm sure that's it," Tobe said mildly, looking out over the fields to their left.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kel asked.

"Hmm, oh you just get on so well with Sergeant Dom, I wondered if there were something more. But now you say it them going to Scanra with us makes more sense really."

"We're not starting this again," Kel said, deciding to stop this conversation, which she'd had several times over the past few years with several different people, before it even started.

"Did I say anything to start it?" Tobe enquired mildly. "You're the one who's so defensive. Seems a little bit like over reacting if there's nothing going on."

Kel just glowered at Tobe and refused to answer. When they got to the wing of the palace that Kel's rooms were in, she told him she'd meet him just before the second bell outside the Riders barracks.

After she left him, she made her way to the bath house situated in her wing to clean up before lunch was served. She was meant to be meeting Neal, Merric and Owen half an hour after the noon bell. This gave her just enough time for a quick wash to get the dirt off and clean her hair before she had to return to her room to change.

As Kel submerged herself into the hot water, she decided that she should return that night for a thorough soak to ease her poor muscles. Since her return from border patrols last autumn, she'd been riding with the King's Own, at the request of Lord Raoul. This being the case, she was never sure of when her next hot bath was going to be, so she tried to relish them when she had the chance.

Kel jumped when she heard the noon bell ring. It seemed that she'd lost track of time, happy to simply soak and listen to the other woman chatter. She quickly washed and rinsed her hair, then practically ran back to her rooms, hoping that Neal and the others would forgive her lateness.

-----


	3. Meet the Riders

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Really, really, really not mine. Promise.

"Where is she? She's never late. Do you think something's happened to her?"

"Meathead calm down. She's probably still in bed, like I should be."

"Well can I help it if you drink too much? You should be grateful that I gave you a hangover cure. If it wasn't for that you'd probably still be in bed, groaning in pain."

Dom glared at his cousin, wishing he wasn't so annoying. "That thing you call a hangover cure was disgusting. You're lucky I didn't spit it all over you."

"But it worked," Neal said, annoyingly smug.

Dom decided not to answer his cousin. Instead he turned to look down the corridor that lead to Kel's quarters.

Neal glared at the back of Dom's head, then turn himself to talk to Owen and Merric. At least they wouldn't make fun of him, or call him Meathead. Mithros he hated that name.

-----

Kel sped down the corridor towards the eating hall that she and her friends used when they were at the palace and Kel wasn't eating with her friends in Third Company. She was ten minutes late, and she knew Neal would be worrying.

Ever since Lalasa had been kidnapped on the eve of her big exams Neal would worry excessively if she were as much as a second late for anything. Her frolics in Scanra just emphasised his suspicions that she couldn't look after herself. He was probably fretting that she'd been assassinated by foreign spies that had infiltrated the palace. Why, oh why did she make friends with someone with an overactive imagination?

She rounded the last bend in the corridor in such a rush that she didn't see the person coming the other way. She practically ran head long into him, and was only kept on her feet by the fact that whoever it was had seen her and had managed to keep himself on his feet and also grab her around her waist to stop her from meeting the floor.

"Hello Kel. Now I know that you enjoyed yourself last night, but I don't think you really need to throw yourself at me to thank me. I told you last night that it was my pleasure."

Kel looked up into Dom's blue eyes, which were twinkling with delight, and felt her stomach flip-flop. "You also told me last night that you loved me…and Lerant, and Wolset, and Peachblossom."

A long time ago, Kel had managed to get her feelings for Dom under control, she'd even had a few relationships in the years following the war, but there was still something about Dom that stirred feelings inside her. Not that she ever let it show, hence the smart mouthed remark.

"And I do love you, and Lerant, and Wolset, and possible Peachblossom. But all in a very different way."

"Thank the Goddess for that. Think of all the broken hearts of you turned out to be gay."

"I'm sure yours would be among them,"

"Of course," Kel joked, "We all know that I'm madly in love with you, but I just don't show it."

The joke had stemmed from Kel and Dom's flirting during her stints with the Own. All the men knew that nothing was going on between her and Dom, but still they teased her about it.

"Do you plan to stand there all day flirting or can we get some food," Merric called to them, "I'm half starved having to wait for you, Kel."

Dom removed his arm from around her waist and held it out for her to take, like many gentlemen did for court ladies. Kel took it and let him lead on to were Neal, Merric and Owen were waiting.

-----

Neal, Merric and Owen watched as Kel walked straight into Dom. He managed to keep both of them on their feet, which Neal thought was a miracle when you thought about the speed Kel was going and how big she was. Not that she was fat, but she was tall and there was a fair amount of muscle on the girl.

Neal rolled his eyes when they started to flirt with each other, hoping that one day Dom would get off his lazy behind and actually do something about Kel. Neal knew she liked him, he'd been able to read Kel like a book since their second year as pages, and he was also pretty sure that Dom actually liked Kel in return. Since her return to the Own, he'd not flirted with anybody else. That was all the evidence that Neal needed.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on between them?" Owen asked as he studied the two of them.

"Nothing. Although the way they act there really should be," Merric replied.

"Well, I think they look jolly together," Owen said.

Neal rolled his eyes again. "You know there are other adjectives other than 'Jolly'."

Owen looked at him blankly. Merric, bored of waiting for Kel, shouted down the corridor. Kel and Dom unwrapped themselves from each other and made their way towards their friends, attached at the arm.

"Mithros, can't you two quit that," Neal said, motioning to were Kel and Dom's arms were intertwined, "I would like to be able to eat without throwing it all back up."

"Do we complain when you and Yuki make eyes at each other while we eat?" Kel asked.

"That's totally different," Neal replied, "We're married."

"I don't think he's realised that we're having an elicit affair," Dom stage whispered to her.

"Well, he is a Meathead," Kel replied.

Neal glared at the both of them then turned on his heels and walked into the eating hall, leaving the laughter of his friends behind him.

-----

Kel met Tobe outside the Riders barracks a few minutes before they had arranged. Apparently Tobe had been there for fifteen minutes, having gotten bored of waiting around the palace for the time to pass. As soon as Tobe had seen her, he had run over to her, chattering non stop about the ponies he'd been watching in the paddock by the barracks.

She let him talk, actually half listening this time, and steered him towards the stables. As soon as Tobe crossed the threshold, he shut up and started to look around him at the ponies peering at them. The one in the stable closest stuck it's head over the door and butted at Tobe's hand.

"You're a little early," Onua called from further back in the stable were she was mucking out one of the stalls, "I'm not quite finished."

"That's okay," Kel called back, "I think Tobe found something to do."

Kel left Tobe getting to know the ponies and walked to the back of the stables were Onua was working. There was another woman with her. She was small, maybe five foot three or four, with wild red hair that fell to her shoulders. She was wearing the work clothes given to the Rider when the joined. From the state of this set, the woman had been with them for a few years at least.

"Kel, this is Lauri," Onua said, pointing to the woman. "She's been helping me while I've been looking for an assistant."

The woman smiled at Kel. "I'm almost sorry she's found someone."

"Almost?" Kel asked.

"I've been helping on top of all my normal duties. It's rather tiring, but I'd say it's worth it if I get to spend more time with the heard."

Kel smiled at Lauri. She obviously enjoyed what she did, and loved being with the horses a lot. In fact, from the way her eyes glowed, Kel got the feeling that she was probably a little horse-hearted.

"Have you got much more to do?" Kel asked, surveying the stalls around them.

"Just that one," Onua said pointing to the one next to Lauri, "The rest we can leave for the Riders to do."

Kel opened the gate to find the stall occupied by a small mare. She was grey, with a black spot in the mid-way between her eyes. Kel moved towards the pony, keeping her movements slow as not to startle her.

Kel thought she was doing well, and was probably about three foot away when the pony reared, front legs flailing trying to catch an unwary knight. Red flashed in the corner of Kel's vision as Lauri darted into the stall. She dodged the flailing horse limbs with ease and grabbed hold of the ponies bridle, pulling her down to all fours. The pony continued to try to shake her head and rear again, but Lauri kept a firm hold on the mare's bridle, keeping her on the ground, whispering comforting words into her ear.

When the pony was finally settles, Lauri led her out of the stall and tied her to one of the posts outside to keep her from wondering. She returned and apologised to Kel, "I'm sorry. She's a bit of a handful. She refuses to let anyone who isn't horse-like anywhere near her. Makes her a brilliant guard when we're fighting, but she can be a pain in the behind when I have to look after her."

"She's yours?" Kel asked, grabbing a pitch fork and helping Lauri to clean out the old hay from the stall.

"Well, officially she belongs to the Riders, but I don't think she'd ever find anyone else she'd get along with if anything happened to me."

"I've got a horse a bit like that," Kel confided.

"Peachblossom. I know all about him from Daine."

"I hadn't realised that it was a topic of conversation," Kel said.

"It's not really, but she was telling me about him when I first got Storm. I was close to giving up with her at one point and Daine knew that if I couldn't control her then no one would be able to. Not without Daine changing her to be less violent, so she told me about your Peachblossom. I think she was trying to get me to have one last go. Luckily for both of us I did something right and she listened to me."

"I wish Peachblossom would listen to me at times. I'm sure he knows exactly what I say to him, but sometimes he gets ideas of his own and he just won't let them alone. He refuses to leave my friend alone. Every time he gets within biting range of Neal…"

"I told ya, m'lady, he just likes the way Sir Nealan squeaks when he's bit," Tobe was stood outside the stall, petting Storm like she was a kitten wanting his attention.

"I see you've wasted not time getting to know the new boy," Lauri commented to her pony, "Now why couldn't you have been like that with me, huh? It would have made my life a whole lot easier."

Storm shot Lauri a look, and then both she and Tobe started to laugh. Kel, feeling like she'd missed something, looked at Tobe for an explanation.

"Storm says that Lauri's life is easy enough to warrant a little trouble now and then."

"You just don't want me to get soft, do ya girl," Lauri said, going to give Storm a pat and a rub.

While Lauri doted on her mount for a few minutes, Kel and Tobe grabbed fresh bedding from a bale of hay outside the stall and spread it around inside. Once done, Lauri untied Storm and lead her back into the stall. She kicked some of the hay around until it seemed to pass her inspection, then walked back to the door for a final pat from her rider.

"Now, no biting Kel, understand?" Lauri ordered the pony.

Storm simply rubbed her nose into Lauri's palm, the picture of equine innocence. Lauri smiled and kissed Storm's head on the black patch between her eyes.

"You all done?" Onua asked.

"Yep," Lauri replied, "Do you need anything else, or are you going to work with Tobe for a bit?"

"I'll give the lad a tour if he wants one. I want to show you exactly what you'll be doing while you're here. Kel can come as well if she wants," Onua offered.

Tobe looked eager to follow Onua, but he looked at Kel and said, "If you want to go you can m'lady. I know this kind of thing isn't exactly exciting for you."

Kel laughed and said, "I'll come along if you want me to."

Tobe shook his head. "I think I can look after myself for a while, m'lady."

"Do you want to get a drink in the mess hall while Onua deals with Tobe?" Lauri asked.

"That'd be nice," Kel said.

"We'll come and find you when we're done," Onua told Kel. She and Tobe left the stables and headed for the paddock, Onua curious to see what Tobe could do.

"Come on then," Lauri said, "I think we might even have some buns left from yesterday we can charm the cooks out of while we wait."

"Umm, sounds nice."

-----

"So how did you come to be in the Riders?" Kel asked Lauri.

The two women were sat at one of the long table that filled the Riders mess. Both had a cup of tea in one hand and a plate of cakes sat between them.

"Well, my folks are players. We travelled all over when I was kid. I've probably saw more in my first ten years of life than even a well travelled knight will see in his, or her, entire life. We played everywhere from the Yamani Isles to Carthak, and the Copper Isles to Sarain.

"Then, when I was thirteen we were travelling through Tortall when we came across a village that had been devastated by floods. There were three Rider groups helping to move things out of people's houses before they collapsed. My mother offered help to them, and we stayed for a week, helping to keep the homeless fed and sheltered. We gained three new performers that week.

"Anyway, I got talking to a few of the Riders while we were helping out. One was fresh out of training and was raving about how great it was to be a Rider and how they helped so many people. I was hooked after that. So when I was seventeen we were passing through Tortall and my parents dropped me off here and I never seem to have left."

"How long have you been here?" Kel asked.

"Nearly seven years, on and off though. After my trial period with a group, I came back here and started to help with the trainees. I did that for three years then joined a group again. When Onua's last assistant left, I was home from the field, so she asked me to help her out for a few weeks. That was probably three months ago."

"Onua's been looking for an assistant for three months?"

"Yep, she's very picky about who helps with these horses. I'm not really surprised either." At Kel's questioning look, Lauri elaborated. "These ponies are the difference between life and death for a Rider. We rely on them to do as they're told, when they're told to do it. They have to be trained thoroughly, with their riders as well as without. There are no halves when it comes to these animals. If they're not ready to go out into the field, they don't go."

"Makes sense," Kel said, "Anybody who doesn't pass the examinations during their page years has to repeat a year. The training master isn't about to put bad knights out into the field."

"Course not. That would be the difference between getting one person killed and getting a company killed in battle."

Kel was silent for a few moments, contemplating her own tests to become a knight. But of someone like Joren could slip through the net…except he didn't. The chamber got rid of him when nobody else could.

Kel was taking another gulp of her tepid tea when a cry went out through the mess hall. Kel choked at the sound, which was part was between a scream and a war cry.

Lauri, who was sat opposite her, replied with an equally odd battle cry. She stood up just in time to be jumped on by someone who was probably a good six inches taller than her and definitely more heavily built than her. Whoever it was had long blonde hair that was fighting the leather thong that kept it in a horse-tail.

Kel could just make out the words, "Home, home, home, home," coming from the new comer.

Lauri finally detangled herself from the body that had thrown itself at her, and introduced Kel. "Kel, this is Beatrice, one of my fellow Riders."

The woman stuck out a hand and said, "Call me Be, everybody else does."

"Kel. Nice to meet you." The women shook hands and Be dropped down onto the bench next to Lauri.

She picked up a bun and started to pick bits off of it, popping them into her mouth. "So, what have you been up to?" Be asked Lauri.

"I've been helping Onua with the heard, like you didn't already know that. It seems that I have been replaced though. Kel's serving boy, Tobe, is out with Onua now."

"So you'll be back on the team?" Be asked.

Lauri explained to Kel, "Be and I are in the same Rider Group. Since I've been helping Onua I haven't been going out with them, but now it seems that yes, I will be 'back on the team'."

"Which group are you with?" Kel asked.

"The first," replied Be, picking up another bun from the plate.

"I don't think I've ever worked with you," Kel said.

"Not many people do," Lauri told her, "We're kind of the ultimate Rider group. We go everywhere, but we rarely work with others. We're the ones that sneak around a lot of the time."

"We're the best," Be added.

"One thing about the first," Kel asked, "Why no nickname? Every other group has one, but not you guys."

"It goes back to the very beginning of the Riders," Lauri explained, "When they were first set up, there were I think about seven groups to start with?" Be nodded, "The first was made up of the best seven Riders trained. Originally there were two mages, a leader, someone to look after the horses, a hunter and two others, both good at tactics and strategy. They moved around the country, getting rid of problems and sorting out arguments in the name of the crown.

"Now, we're move like body guards for the Royals when they need protection. We do normal duties as well when we're not needed by the king or queen."

"It also sound cool," Be added.

Kel smiled. "I guess that makes sense. So how many are there in your group? Still seven?"

"Actually, yes. There are us two," Lauri held up fingers to count everybody off, "Miri, she's group leader, Clio's the noble, Jake's the thief, Alex is the mage, Jack's the hunter and Alun's the one who gets the work done."

"So, what do you do?" Kel asked.

"I look after the horses," Lauri replied, "and Be…what do you do Be?"

"I look pretty," Be said, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder and batting her lashes.

All three women laughed. "So what was your last mission?" Kel asked, actually interested in what these two women did for a living.

"If we told you that, we'd have to kill you I'm afraid," Lauri said, her face deadly serious, but her eyes twinkling.

"Actually, we should probably kill you after what we've just told you," Be said, smiling. "Very few people know anything about us."

"I don't really see why the Riders need a group to protect the king, I mean he has to Own to act as body guards," Kel said.

"Nine times out of ten, the work we do is regular stuff. Then probably nine times out of the ten that we do something different, it's normally just snooping around and checking out fief's that might be able to revolt against the king."

"So you really just like normal Riders," Kel said.

"Pretty much, except we're the best at what we do," Be said.

"You're life seems so fun. I almost wish I'd joined you instead of going for a knighthood."

"Believe me, you really don't," Lauri said, "You'd be bored stiff by the end of the first week."

"Probably," Kel said, "But I do have a talent for getting myself into trouble."

"That remind me of the time during our summer camp as trainees," Be said, "We were up at Fief Dunlath, and I swear every time I turned my back, Lauri managed to do something wrong."

The three women spent the next three hours chatting about nothing and everything. The girls told Kel stories of being in the Riders in exchange for her anecdotes about her time spend as a page and a squire. By the time Tobe returned to the Riders mess, it was nearly six o'clock, and Kel had to hurriedly excuse herself, telling her new friends that she'd try to get back to see them in the next few days.

Kel left for the palace feeling good about her day. Now all she had to do was get through dinner with Third Company without them trying force feed her alcohol. A feat that was harder than it sounded.

-----

"How was the boy?" Be asked when Kel left with Tobe just before dinner.

"Better than I thought," Onua admitted, "His magic is strong, nearly as strong as Lauri here. If he was given half a chance he could probably do everything you do, and maybe more."

"More?" Be asked, "I can't see what else she could do. Talking to horses, healing them, slipping into their minds, I can't see how he can do much more."

"You think he has a connection to more than just horses?" Lauri asked.

"No, he's horse through and through. But, I think that if he was taught right, he might be able to shape shift."

"I thought that took serious magic," Be said.

"It does. He's never been trained in proper magic, never had lessons in meditation that would strengthen his bond with horses. If he does, I think his magic could increase ten fold."

"He's just like Daine was before she left Snowsdale," Lauri said.

"I took him out into the field with the ponies and made him work on his meditation for half an hour. Thinking about what I felt coming from him, I think I might be going to find Daine tonight to see if she can take over giving him lessons with his magic. He said that she'd seen him a few times before and said something about helping him with his magic, but you know how she is at times."

"With Numair and Sarralyn to look after, she's probably forgotten that she offered," Be said.

"It wouldn't surprise me," Onua said. "But enough about the boy, what's the lady like?"

"Kel, she's nice," Lauri said. "She's a hard worker. She deserves everything good that happens to her."

"I thought you might say something like that," Onua said, "And I'm glad because I think she's going to be spending a lot more time around here if Tobe decided to stay with me."

"I won't be complaining," Be said. "She can give us all the gossip from the Own."

"What is it about the King's Own that interests you so much?" Lauri asked, "I know that we're not meant to like them, but you just take it to the extreme."

"Know you enemy's weaknesses," Be said.

"But their not the enemy," Lauri replied.

"Oh, but they are," Be said, "We've got The Games coming up. Starting tomorrow, the King's Own are the bad guys."

-----


	4. Dinner and secrets

Disclaimed: Just playing here, no harm intended.

Kel ate with the men of Third Company that night, hoping to hell that the only just controlled laughter didn't show too much in her features. When she'd first walked into the mess, she'd seen Lerant scowling at his food and a small bubble of laughter escaped her mouth. The last time she'd seen Lerant, he'd been stripped to the waist with several rather rude suggestions written on his chest in red paint. He'd been doing some sort of odd war dance with one of the squads Kel didn't know too well.

She was currently sat next to Dom, eating and flirting as was the weekly ritual, trying to coax him into telling her exactly how much he remembered of the night before.

"I remember drinking a lot," Dom was saying, "What do you remember?"

"We're not talking about me here, Sergeant," Kel replied, "We're talking about you. Do you remember anything after Wolset started dancing on the tables?"

"No, I don't,"

"So you don't remember kissing Lerant?" Kel asked.

"Don't even joke about it, Kel. It's not funny…will you please stop laughing at me?"

"I'm sorry Dom," Kel said between peels of laughter, "But the look on your face was priceless."

"Yeah, well you'll pay for that," Dom said.

"I'm so scared," Kel said, grinning into her apple juice.

Dom glared at her, so much like Neal had so many times in the past, which just set Kel off again. She nearly fell of the bench she was sat on, only staying on because Dom held her up.

"I'm not sure you should be laughing," Fulcher, one of Dom's corporals plonked his tray down opposite Kel, "You've been fraternizing with the enemy."

"I have?" Kel asked, unsure of whom 'the enemy' were.

"You were at the Riders barracks today. Spent quite a while there by all accounts," Fulcher said.

"I went down with Tobe, so what?"

"What was Tobe doing down there?" Dom wanted to know.

"Their horse-mistress needs a new assistant. She wanted to know if Tobe would be interested, so she invited him to go and have a look around," Kel told him.

"So why did you go with him?" Fulcher asked.

Kel was starting to feel like she was being interrogated. "He asked me to go with him. I wasn't about to say no was I."

"But you left him after a few minutes and went into the Riders mess with one of _them_."

"Yes, I went and had a drink while Onua took Tobe out for a few hours. So what?"

"She doesn't know," Dom told Fulcher, "I was going to explain during dinner."

"I don't know what?" Kel asked.

"I thought you were going to tell her last week and ask her to join us," Fulcher said, slightly whiny.

"I didn't get round to it," Dom said apologetically.

"Didn't get around to what? What haven't you told me?" Kel asked, slightly aggravated that the two men were ignoring her.

"Look," Fulcher said, "Every year for, well, quite a while now the Own and the Riders have had a bit of a best of the best competition going on when we get a bit of spare time. Both groups put forwards their best rider, archer, fighter, and Mithros know what else and they compete against each other to find who's better, the Own or the Riders."

"It's turned into a bit of a ritual," Dom put in, "We've won six times out of ten, but they hold the title at the moment."

"So you think that because I was spending time with the Riders that I was telling them secrets about you?" Kel asked.

"Well, you might have been," Fulcher said defensively.

"They didn't ask me anything about you," Kel told him.

"Did they tell you anything about them that may help us?" Dom asked slyly.

"No, all we talked about Tobe and how Lauri had been helping Onua until she found an assistant, and then how the Riders worked, then Be turned up and we swapped stories."

"Be?" Fulcher asked. "You mean Beatrice from the First? Their back from patrol?"

"They got back in mid afternoon," Kel confirmed.

Dom groaned and dropped his head onto Kel's shoulder, "We're doomed."

"Don't be so negative," Kel said.

"You don't understand," Fulcher said, "They're the best."

"Yeah, but aren't you lot also the best?" Kel asked.

"Not in the way they are," Dom said. "Against just normal Rider we stand a chance, but these guys aren't just normal Riders."

"Yeah, they work as body guards for the King and Queen sometimes, so what?"

"They don't just 'guard the king and queen sometimes'," Dom said. He sighed and explained to Kel. "You remember the first time we caught up with Progress while you were a squire?" Kel nodded, "Well the First were there then because there were rumours that the Scanran government had sent assassins to take a pop at the king while he was in such a public place. The First did a bit of digging around and found the people the Scanrans were paying. They were caught and tried under the laws, but it was all kept quiet. That's what the First do. They look into threats to the royal family."

"They told me as much when we were talking to them. Well, not the bit about assassins, but they told me that they do work snooping around in fiefs that might plan to rebel," Kel said.

"Yes, but they don't just find the problem, they sort it out as well. They're practically killers," Fulcher said.

"I think you've been listening to too much gossip, both of you," Kel told them, "and how is that going to cause you problems in these Games?"

"They don't like to lose," Fulcher said, "In fact they hate to lose so much that last year they cheated by spiking our drinks so we all turned up the next morning with splitting hangovers."

Kel winced in sympathy. "I think I'm starting to like these Riders more and more," she joked.

"Don't," Dom warned, "You're practically Own yourself, the amount you ride with us. They probably wouldn't take exception just because you're not officially one of us."

"But I'm not going to be competing against them, so they have no reason to come after me as well as you lot," Kel reasoned.

"Well, we wanted to talk to you about that," Dom said to her.

"Oh no, I'm not getting involved in all this. I value my life to much for that. And besides, Tobe's practically a Rider now that he's taking this job. I couldn't go against him."

"Hmm, well I suppose when you put it that way we really can't ask you to compete," Dom said, "But you will come and watch us won't you?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss you lot getting beaten by women for anything," Kel jibed.

"Ah, I wouldn't bet on us getting beaten this year," Fulcher said cryptically.

"What do you mean by that?" Kel asked.

"All will become clear soon, dear Keladry," Dom said, standing and picking up his tray. "We'll see you tomorrow. We start at nine o'clock in our training yards."

"I'll be there," Kel said, wondering exactly what Dom was planning.

-----

It was just after dark when Lauri crept out of the Riders Barracks and slipped away into the darkness towards the palace. She was actually getting quite good at knowing were she was going now. Three years of secret meetings did that to a girl's sense of direction.

Past the Owns barracks, through the old hall that held the meeting rooms, down the corridor next to one of the many libraries and out of the second door and, bam, there was the rose garden.

She remembered the midwinter night three years ago when her companion had ambushed her after one of the many parties that she was forced to attend by Buri. She'd left to get a bit of air when the wine had started to get to her head, and he'd followed her out. He'd snuck up behind her and put his arms around her waist and gently kissed her cheek, wishing her midwinter luck, and it'd all escalated from there.

The door to the garden opened behind her and someone walked up behind her, putting their arms around her waist, just as she remembered he'd done three years ago.

"Missed you," she said quietly.

"Missed you to," he breathed into her neck.

It was nearly an hour later when Lauri was walking back to her barracks that she met Dom out on a midnight stargaze outside the Own barracks. "Anything interesting up there?" she asked.

"I wasn't really looking," Dom replied. Unlike the rest of the Riders, Dom actually got on quite well with Lauri. She'd looked after one of his mounts when they'd fallen ill after drinking unclean water from somewhere. Dom had fully expected to lose her, but Lauri had helped.

"So, do you have a reason for lying on the floor staring up at the sky? You haven't fallen down and hurt something have you?" she asked.

"Wouldn't you just love that? No I haven't, I'm just thinking about last night,"

"Can't remember what you did?"

"Can't remember what anyone did, more like it," Dom said.

"I heard a rumour about naked war dances and body paint," Lauri said helpfully.

"See, if I had names that would be fantastic," Dom said.

"Ask Kel, she was there wasn't she?"

"Won't tell me," Dom said shortly.

"What, you mean she hasn't fallen for the famous Domitan Charm?"

"Nope, seems she's immune. Although she did tell me that I confessed my undying love for her…and Lerant, and Wolset and Peachblossom."

"I'm guessing that last three were a cover up for the slip of the tongue," Lauri teased.

"Why does everyone think I have a thing for Kel?"

"Because it would just be so nice for the two of you. And I don't think that the men believe that two people can be as close as you are and not have something."

"Nguh," Dom said in reply.

Lauri, now starting to get a bit tired, moved off, shouting over her shoulder, "Night Dom,"

"Night Lauri,"

-----


	5. Let the games begin!

Disclimer: Not mine, please don't sue!

The next day dawned bright and early. Kel was up at her normal time, and headed out to the practise courts were the daily glaive sessions were held.

Since Kel's knighthood, the group of people who attended in a morning had grown dramatically. Currently, nearly twenty women took regular practise with the Queen, Princess Shinkokami, Yuki, and Kel's mother. Kel herself made a point to go every morning when she could.

As Kel surveyed the people gathered there, she was surprised to see a face she knew, but not one she'd seen at practise before. Fianola was one of the girls who had gone to visit Kel after her last jousting contest with Lord Wyldon. Kel had been happy to hear that she had started her page training as the war with Scanra was winging down, and now she was a second year squire.

"I hadn't realised that you were back at the palace," Kel commented to the younger girl. "I would have come by to say hello and see how things were going."

Fianola, still slightly uncomfortable with the informality that Kel preferred, answered while looking at her feet. "I didn't want to disturb you Lady Knight," she replied.

"Oh, will you please stop with all this Lady Knight stuff. My names Kel, use it."

Fianola nodded, still looking at her feet.

As people paired off to start practise, Kel offered to be Fianola's partner, telling the girl that she'd probably go easier on her than many of the other women there who had been practising for less time than she. Fianola looked at Kel, eyes wide. "I would be honoured," she said.

Kel went easy on the girl, giving her time to put up a solid defence when ever Kel attacked. When it came to Fianola's turn to go on the offensive, she was so gentle that Kel was starting to get annoyed at the way the girl was obviously holding back.

Waiting for Fianola to leave a gap in her defence as she attacked, Kel thought that this was probably how the Queen had felt the first time she had practised with Kel. To afraid of social standing to really put up a good fight.

When Fianola lunged, Kel dodged the girl and swept her glaive round at the girls feet, sweeping them out from under her and leaving her on her behind in the dirt.

Kel looked down at the girl and then offered her hand to pull her up. Fianola was glowing red when she finally got back on her feet, and had returned to looking at the ground.

"You'll never learn if you're afraid to attack properly," Kel informed the blushing girl, picking up her practise glaive that lay on the floor and passing it back to her.

"But, I might hurt you, Lady Kel." Fianola protested.

Kel looked at her, "If I let you hurt me then I deserve every bruise I get. I've been using one of these things for years. Don't worry you're not going to do me any damage in the near future."

Kel shook her head as the girl-squire blushed even more. Pulling her to a space where they were free of any obstacles or other pairs, Kel started to show Fianola the most simple pattern dance she knew. The girl copied her moves and was soon starting to move more fluidly.

Kel stopped her twice to change her stance and grip on her glaive, but after a few minutes she let the girl get up to a comfortable speed. Once she was going, Kel started a pattern dance herself, letting her body take over the movements and her mind relax.

Kel went so deep into her dance that she didn't realise that all the other women had stopped practising and were watching her as she went through the most complex set of movements she knew, her muscles acting independent of her mind as they went through the movements that were etched onto them from years of practise.

When she finally came to a stop, she looked up to find all the other women applauding her, Fianola in the lead.

"Will you teach me to do that?" the girl asked.

"Sure," Kel said, "All you have to do is practise, whenever you can."

Kel's mother and the queen came over shortly after, wanting to talk to her about her practise routine. When Kel finally managed to detach herself from the women, she found that Fianola had fled.

-----

"I hope everybody's feeling fresh this morning," Lauri said cheerily as she placed her breakfast tray next to Be and climbed over the bench.

Be glared at her, wondering why some people had to be so darned cheery in the mornings. She voiced her question to Lauri, using slightly more colourful language than that.

"Because it's a beautiful summer day," Lauri said. "Because today we get to start having some fun. Because life is good."

"And because her beloved Liam is back," Jack said, moving to sit opposite Be.

"Ugh, why didn't we drown him in the last ford we had to cross?" Be asked.

"Because the king wouldn't be to happy if we managed to kill his son when we were meant to be protecting him," Alun added helpfully.

Be just grunted and went back to her porridge. "Aww, Be's all grumpy this morning isn't she," Jack said, putting on his kiddie voice.

"So would you if you'd heard that racket that the Own were making last night outside my room," Be said.

About midnight, some of the men from Osbern's squad had snuck out from their barracks and stolen some pans from the kitchens. Using them as drums, they had stood outside the Riders barracks and started making the most horrific noise that Be had ever heard. It didn't help that someone had also starting doing wolf impressions over the top.

"Didn't keep me awake," Lauri said. She had Be were shared a room with the two other women of the First.

"You sleep through anything," Be complained.

"Well, you're not the only one deprived of your beauty sleep," Lauri told her friend. "As soon as the Own started to make that racket outside our room, the horses in the Own stables started to play up. I doubt if anyone in their barracks got a wink of sleep last night."

"You got them back?" Be asked.

"I got them back." Lauri confirmed, putting a smile into Be's face.

"Well then, what are we waiting for," Be said, suddenly energised. "Let's go kick some King's Own behind."

-----

When Kel got to the training yards that belonged to the King's Own, she found lots of weary looking men and women all clustered round a piece of paper the was pinned to one of the outside walls.

Looking around, Kel found Dom leaning against one of the walls, head drooping forward into his chest. He looked like he was asleep.

Kel walked over to him and gently poked his shoulder, trying to get a reaction out of him. He just stayed in his state of sleep. Kel poked him harder, and succeeded in getting Dom to open his eyes and look at her. "Ah, now that's a nice face to wake up to," he said, yawning widely.

"You look like the living dead," she informed him.

"You don't look to bad yourself," Dom retorted. "I only got about an hours sleep last night."

"Why?" Kel asked, "You didn't stay up drinking last night did you?"

"No," Dom said waspishly. "The horses were a pain all night, from about midnight onwards."

"You never told me the horses disrupted your sleep before," Kel said.

"That's because they normally don't," Dom informed Kel. "It was the Riders. Somehow they disturbed the horses so they'd keep us awake."

"That doesn't sound very friendly," Kel said, looking at the Riders to see if they looked any more rested than Dom did. They didn't.

"Yeah, well that's what they're like," Dom snapped.

Kel held her hand up in front of her, trying to keep Dom from biting her head off. "I'm sure they are," Kel agreed. "What's that notice that everyone's looking at?" she asked, changing the subject to save herself from a verbal bashing.

"It's the list of events we've agreed on," Dom said warily. "It was posted this morning so nobody gets a chance to plan ahead who'll do what."

"What kinds of things are on the list?" Kel asked, intrigued.

"Umm, mostly normal things. Archery, racing on foot and on horseback, sword fighting, knife fighting, wrestling, horse obedience, that kind of thing. There are a few odd ones as well."

"Such as?" Kel prompted.

"Such as a rope tug, battle games for the whole team to get in on, a race were you have to carry an egg on a spoon as you run and not let it drop off, an obstacle course, and some others I'm not really sure of, but I'm sure they'll be fun to watch."

"Sound exciting. When do the trials start?"

"Now," Dom said as the people in the yard started to gather around a fenced off area that was used to train the men in fighting with swords. There were two people inside the area, one in the blue of the Own and the other in Rider's brown.

Kel and Dom walked over to watch the two compete against each other. It was a closely fought battle, but the Own came out on top, a good start to their day.

-----


	6. Distraction

Disclaimer: Not mine, nope really not mine. Honestly!

After the sword fighting came an archery competitions, then knife throwing and a combat match finished off the mornings competition. The Own won three of the four contests, missing out only on the knife throwing, which Lauri won for the Riders.

A quick lunch was taken and from there the competition continued into the afternoon. Next up was wrestling, which was won by a man that Lauri introduced as Alun. He was big, over six and a half feet tall, and well muscled. His skin marked him as Carthaki on origin, or at least his parents were. When he stepped into the ring, he dwarfed Sergeant Osbern, who was pretty big himself.

After that, Kel watched another combat match, this one including staff's, which was again won by the Riders.

The last event of the day was a mystery to Kel, so as she walked with Lauri she asked, "So what exactly is this then?"

They approached an the archery field, two targets were set up at one end of the field, and at the other there were a large collection of pots and pans, drums and trumpets, and other random objects that if were used correctly could make a rather large amount of noise.

"This is Distraction," Lauri told her as they entered the field. "The idea is that each team selects one archer, probably the best from each group, to fire an arrow at the target. Just one arrow mind you. Then the opposite team have to try to distract them."

"That explains the pots and pans," Kel said.

"It was an idea given to us by Sarge, the training master for the Riders. He used to do exactly the same thing, to try to simulate battle conditions to see how our concentration faired when we were surrounded by noise."

"It's an excellent idea," Kel said, "I remember the first time I fought properly in battle, the racket produced was deafening."

"I suppose noise is one distraction, but I can think of others that work much better," Be said, coming to stand beside them.

"What do you mean?" Kel asked

"All will be revealed later," Be said, "You just need to be patient."

Kel shook her head and went to talk to the men of the Own.

The Riders were up first, with Lauri as their participant. After hearing that Lauri had trained with these noises for years, Kel wasn't really surprised that when the Own started making noise, it bother her not one bit. Lauri took her arrow and put it to the bow string as the men of the Own started to jeer and throw insults at her.

Apparently Lauri wasn't listening to them. Pulling back the string, she let her arrow fly straight and true into the centre of the target.

The Riders cheered and the Own booed as Lauri took a bow and left the field to the Own. Kel watched as Dom readied a bow; apparently he was the Owns chosen shooter, and waited to see what the Riders would do to put him off.

Miri moved to talk to Dom, stopping him from firing to give them some more time to arrange their distraction. Lauri moved towards Kel. When she caught Kel's eye, she beckoned her over to were she was stood just inside the firing range.

"We need your help," she said when Kel got to her, "duck under and I'll explain."

Kel ducked under the handrail that formed the edge of the field and followed Lauri over to were Miri and Dom were standing, Lauri explaining as they went. "We need you to unnerve Dom. Just stand really close to him while he gets ready, but don't talk to him much. If he asks you questions, try to give one word answers. Then when he fires, I want you to blow lightly onto his ear."

"Why?" Kel asked.

"Because it's unnerving to have someone that close to you, especially someone you like."

"I don't think it'll help," Kel said.

"Just trust me, Kel."

Kel sighed and moved to stand next to Dom as he readied his bow again. She stood practically on top of him as he bent the bow to string it. She watched him with interest, brushing her arm against his.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Fine," Kel replied.

"Okay," Dom picked an arrow from the quiver on the ground beside him, Kel watching closely and bending round to him to see what his hand were doing.

Dom stopped what he was doing and looked at her, a strange look in his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Watching," Kel replied.

Lauri seemed to be right, Dom was getting nervous with Kel standing so close to him, and being so quiet. She smiled up at his face as he put the arrow to the string and readied to fire. As he aimed, Kel went onto her tip toes and looked down the bow at were he was aiming.

"Kel, if you don't want to get hurt, you need to move," Dom said, his voice faltering slightly.

"I'm fine here," Kel said sweetly, smiling at him again.

Dom aimed again at the target, and this time Kel kept looking at his face. She was stood behind him because he'd moved to be side on to the target. Kel moved closer still, feeling the warmth that his body was radiating. Dom glances at her, not taking the bow down from were it was aimed.

Kel simply smiled again, looking from Dom to the target and back again. Dom looked back at the target and prepared to fire. Just as he released the arrow, Kel blew very softly onto the side of his ear.

Lauri's plan went exactly right. Dom, uncomfortable with Kel's closeness, was totally put off, his shot hit the outer edge of the target. Personally Kel thought that hitting the target at all was pretty good the way his aim went when her breath tickled his ear.

Kel was smiling to herself when Dom turned to look at her. His face was pure thunder and her smile faltered. "What?" she asked.

Dom just looked at her and stormed off towards the Owns barracks, his face giving him free passage through the crowd of men and women watching. Kel watched him go, wondering why he was so upset. It was only a contest after all it wasn't like anyone had gotten hurt.

Lauri come over to where Kel was still stood. "That was extraordinary," she proclaimed to Kel. "He's won the contest the past three times we've done this. I suppose that's why he stormed off."

"I don't know," Kel replied, "He didn't say anything to me after he shot. He just stalked off."

Lauri's smile faltered slightly and she looked to were Dom's figure could still be seen making it's way back to his barracks. "You better go and apologise. Tell him that I blackmailed you into it if it helps, though it might not."

"I'm sure he'll get over it eventually," Kel said, "Right now I'm more worried that half of Third Company wants to kill me."

"Nah, they enjoyed that actually. It isn't often that they get to see Dom flustered. In fact, I think you might be the first person to do it."

Kel smiled as the older woman returned to her colleagues and they turned for home. It was time for dinner and Kel suddenly felt hungry. Maybe Dom will be at dinner, and then I can apologise, Kel thought as she strolled towards the Owns quarters. Maybe…

-----

AN: Just a short chapter, but it does have some K/D, so it's worth it ;)


	7. Conversations about love

Disclaimer: Still not mine, what am I doing wrong?

The one thing that Kel had not known about her little incident with Dom was that she was being watched. Not as in, watched by the other competitors from the Riders and the Own, but at the back of the spectators, Neal has snuck to see exactly what had kept Kel away from her friends all day.

When Dom stormed off the field, Neal watched him, keeping one eye on were he was going and the other on Kel. Seeing as his friends seemed fine with what had just happened, Neal decided that it was his cousin that needed his attention more readily.

So, dusting himself off from where he had been sitting in the hill overlooking the action, he followed he brethren to the Own's barracks. He knocked lightly on the door to the room were Dom and the rest of his squad slept, entering without waiting for an answer.

He was lucky that he did, because it seemed that he would have been waiting a long time. Dom was right in the middle of a bout of feeling sorry for himself. He was laid on his front of his bed, head buried under his pillow.

Neal signed, "Do you want to talk?" he asked nicely. The only reply was a pillow being thrown his way. Well, at least now Dom wasn't about to suffocate himself. "Why did that upset you so much?" Neal tried again. But his cousin was being stubborn. Neal shook his head, "And you call me Meathead, well I think that right now you're being a lot more stubborn than I am."

"Go away Neal," Dom said, his speech slightly muffled by blankets.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, you're family, and Kel's practically family too, so when you get stropy with her, I have to but in and sort it out. Now, why were you so annoyed at Kel? Was it because she caused you to loose your little contest?"

Dom didn't reply, but Neal hadn't really expected him to. "Is it because she helped the Riders over the Own?" Again Dom didn't reply. "Well then, it must be that Kel getting that close to you annoyed you because it made you feel something that you've been trying to put off feeling."

Dom finally raised his head, but only to send a glare Neal's way before he lowered it again.

"You think you're the only one who feel's like that? How the hell do you think Kel feels? Or hadn't you noticed that she has a gods awful crush on you?"

"Meathead, you're not talking sense," Dom replied scathingly. "Kel has no feeling towards me except friendship."

"Is that so?" Neal asked, "Then why, pray tell me, did I watch her struggle with her emotions every time you got close to her for, oh, a good three months when we first got back from the north. Yes, she's liked you for at least five years, and probably more when she was a squire."

"You're delusional," Dom retorted.

"Yes, and you're stupid, but I try not to bring it up in polite conversation," Neal replied.

Dom rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "I think the first time I felt it was when she came back from the Tyran border and started to ride with us again. I was so happy to see her back with us that I didn't realise that it wasn't just happiness I felt. I started to flirt with her like I always had done in the past, trying to be friends, but then she started to flirt back and it startled me."

"It was that Tyran lord she had a thing with while she was on patrol there," Neal told his foolish cousin, "He opened her up totally. I think he probably flirted with her more than you do."

"I guess I've been trying to force my feeling to be sisterly when it comes to her," Dom admitted. "Then, when she got close to me today, they finally struggled free of my grip and I started thinking 'hey, why not like her like that'."

"It's a good question," Neal told his cousin. "Why don't you think about it for a while and talk to Kel when you've decided whether she's worth the risk. A note from one who knows her well, don't let her slip away."

Neal left Dom thinking over the choices open to him. Whatever he did, he was probably about to change his life forever.

-----

Kel waited two hours to see if Dom would come down for dinner that night. He didn't, so she walked slowly back to her rooms in the palace, thinking over exactly what she did to get him so mad.

She'd made fun of him before in front of the men of the Own, and she knew that it didn't bother him. She wondered if maybe it was because he lost, but she just couldn't see Dom being that bothered about a game.

Kel entered her quarters and collapsed into a chair, pondering how long Dom would be in a tiff at her, and if she'd done something that may change their friendship forever.

----

Tobe, however, wasn't at all despondent. He'd spent that day with Onua and the Riders horses, learning the ropes of the Riders strict day to day life.

They spent the first part of the morning going over the Riders mounts, checking to make sure they were being well looked after, and that no illness had infected a pony. With the mounts in such close proximity to each other, any disease would run rampant through that heard in a matter of days. It was important that they were kept well, or the Riders would be crippled.

As Tobe worked on each mount, he talked to them, finding out who their riders were, how they treated them, and general gossip from the heard. By the end of the inspection, Tobe had a good idea of all the Riders currently stationed at the palace, all with a horse-eyes image of what they look like.

Once the ponies with riders were sorted, Tobe and Onua moved outside to give those in the paddock a quick groom and once over for illness. Tobe chattered away again, the ponies happy that this new person was here to look after them.

Lunch was a blip in a day that was filled with horse things, a fifteen minute break to gobble down a bit of bread and cheese. Onua then took Tobe to the tac store to get out a few spare pieces that needed mending. Onua showed Tobe what to do, then let him get on with it.

He was half way through his second bridle when he felt a change in the ponies outside. They were excited, the two legger was here. She always had good treats for them.

Tobe was intrigued as to who this mystery person was. He'd put down his work, left the stable were they'd been working, and walked out to the paddock.

-----

Dom waited until everybody was at dinner before he left his room. Wanting some peace, he headed outside and walked aimlessly around the palace grounds. He ended up sat in one of the many gardens that surrounded the enormous palace, the one that was nearest to the wing that held the newest of the young knights.

He sat on the grass by a fountain, letting the sound of the water lull his senses. He felt totally at peace here, unlike when he'd been sat on his bed, listening to the men milling around outside. Letting his thoughts drift, he started to reminisce about his life. People he'd forgotten existed in places he'd not been for years filed his mind.

But, as usual, his thoughts were pulled back to a certain very tall Lady Knight.

He remembered the first time he'd seen her, when he and a few of the men had been down to the training yards to watch the new pages tilt. For Dom, this trip had been sweeter than pervious trips, because this time, Meathead was meant to be practising, and any time he got to laugh at Meathead for making a fool of out of himself was not something to be missed. But, if Meathead had been his reasons for going down to the field, Kel was his reason for being happy when he left.

See, Meathead had written to Dom the minute he'd taken Kel under his wing. He'd written again a week later telling him all about what Kel was going through and how mean the other pages were to her. He'd then written again a week later, once again complaining at how mean a particular bunch of pages were towards Kel.

Dom had read every letter that Meathead had sent him, and had decided that Kel was the kind of person who didn't give up easily. So when her mount had reared on her first tilt, he bet that she'd stay on. And he'd won as well.

Kel's training went on, and Neal wrote to Dom every week that he was at the palace, telling him every detail of what Kel and he were doing. Dom read each letter, and had come to the conclusion that the Meathead had feelings for this girl, not necessarily romantic feelings, more that he through of her as a sort of soul mate. Someone who understood him and accepted him for who he was.

Then, as the first year came to a close, the Own had met up with the pages in the Royal Forrest while hunting spidrens. Dom had a long talk with Neal, and his cousin had decided that it was time that Dom and Kel were introduced, but they'd found the spidren nest before they'd had time, and Dom had been injured during the fighting and had to be taken to a healer immediately. Neal had written to him about every detail of the pages scuffle, including lots about Kel, as was expected.

Over the next few months, the letters about Kel kept up at the regular pace, then towards the middle of the summer, the letters trailed off so Dom was now only getting about one every month.

Over the next year or so, Neal kept saying that he was going to introduce Kel to Dom, but it seemed that whenever they were at the palace, Neal and Kel were busy, or Dom had duties to attend to.

Dom continued to hear about Kel's exploits through Neal's letters, and as he heard the things that Kel had done, he found that he had a large amount of respect for the girl. Even under extremely hard conditions, she still managed to flourish and grow, becoming 'the best page seen at the palace this side of the coronation', as Neal had put it in one letter.

As time passed by, Neal's insistence that Dom had to meet Kel disappeared. So, when he'd went to see Neal to see how his cousins page examinations had gone, he'd been highly surprised that his cousin told him that Kel was being taken on by Lord Raoul, and that she was going to be riding with the Own for four years.

It was that night that he'd actually met Kel, when they'd been called out to Haresfield. He'd been surprised at how tall she was. Neal always wrote about Kel like she was still eleven years old, and Dom thought it strange that he still thought of her as the page that she'd been when he'd first seen her tilt.

Over the next four years, Dom respect for Kel grew as he got to know her better. By the time she left for the palace to face her ordeal, Dom thought of her as a firm friend, and someone he was definitely going to keep in contact with. He'd seen too many men leave the Own to marry, promising that they'd keep in touch, but it never seemed to happen.

The men of the Own had no doubts that Kel would pass her Ordeal, and when Dom and his squad had been assigned to Heaven, he'd been told that Kel would be in command as soon as the passes opened and the reinforcements came north. When he'd been told this, Dom's heart had squeezed a bit. Dom had passed it off as looking forward to seeing an old friend again, and as soon as he saw Kel again, the old friendship had come flooding back.

When he had to leave Heaven to return to Steadfast, he'd been sad to leave Kel, and Neal, behind. Knowing that Kel was now down a squad didn't help either; her and her people were well in the danger zone.

Then that fateful day came when Raoul informed him that Heaven had been attacked, and Kel had disobeyed orders to get her people back. Dom had been angry as hell with Wyldon. He'd been her training master for four years, and he had thought that Kel would just leave her people to the Scanrans? Hearing that Lord Raoul had giving Wyldon an ear full himself had made Dom feel slightly better, but Raoul giving them the order to go and help Kel made him feel a lot better.

Still, Dom had worried the whole way to Scanra and back again. It wasn't until she was safely back at New Hope with her people that Dom felt right with the world again. Kel would always get herself into trouble, but at least if she were in charge of New Hope, she wasn't about to run off with out warning.

As the war ended, Kel had moved to Steadfast, leaving New Hope to the command of her refugee's. Dom had been ecstatic when he'd heard that Kel was going to be back with the Own, but he'd put it down to their friendship meaning so much to him.

Once the war was officially over and Kel was no longer needed in the north, she went back to Corus, leaving Dom and Third Company to patrol in the north for three more months before Raoul moved them back to Corus as well. Unfortunately, Kel was now busy organising Yuki and Neal's wedding, helping with the page training and doing good things that earned her the name Protector of the Small that Dom really didn't get to see very much.

A meal here, a few days here and there, rushed greetings as they passed at the palace was all the contact that Dom seemed to have for the next few years, then once again, war seemed inevitable.

Kel had volunteered for border duty, and put herself in danger again. Dom had an agonising two months before Third Company was posted to the Tyran border. Third Company were stationed in a fort that was three day's ride from were Kel and Neal were both stationed. Their job was, once again to look after civilians. Most were Tyran's moving across the border from were the Tyran king had decided to mass his army.

The 'war' was hardly a war at all. It turned out that the Tyran king was working independently of his government. Most of the Tyran nobles didn't want a war. They were happy with the land they had and didn't need any more.

The Tyran border fiefs invited Tortallan troops to set up bases on their lands. The king and his ministers set up talks with these nobles, and between them, they managed to over throw the king and set his brother on the thrown.

It had been during these talks that Kel had found Lord Willum. His fief bordered Tortall at the point were Kel was station, so when Lord Willum travelled to the peace talks, Kel had been one of the party that had been sent to collect him, along with Dom's squad.

Kel had arrived four days before Dom, and it seemed that Lord Willum wasted no time getting to know one of Tortalls two Lady Knight's. As they rode back to Tortall, Dom had watched as Kel and 'Will' as he wanted to be know, flirted unashamedly.

The feelings that Dom had, which could have been jealousy, he put down to being overly protective of Kel as a friend. He tried not to let it show, but he was cold towards the Tyran Lord, much to Kel's puzzlement.

Dom wasn't meant to know about this, but Lord Will asked Kel to return with him to Tyra when the problems were sorted. Kel, after much consideration, refused. It was the end of a short and sweet relationship that Kel would never forget.

When the threat of war was over, Kel rejoined Third Company. Dom was ecstatic at the news, but once again, he put his feelings down to their friendship. He had noticed that she had grown into a beautiful young woman, but never thought anything about it until she had started to flirt with him. He'd kept his feelings in close check after that, not wanting to make a fool out of himself, or to ruin his friendship with Kel.

Which lead him to why he was currently sat looking at the stars, listening to the fountain. After all his reminiscing, Dom was no closer to knowing what to do than he was when he started.

He heard footsteps approach where he was and someone sat on the edge of the fountain behind him. Whoever it was didn't say anything, they just sat there quietly.

Dom finally broke the silence. "You think I should go for it?"

"I think that Kel's very confused as to why you stormed off after you lost," Lauri informed him.

"That didn't answer my question," Dom replied.

"No, it didn't. But I can't answer that question. Only you can."

"That's not helpful,"

Lauri moved so she was lying beside him on the grass, "I don't try to be helpful; I try and make sure people make the right decision."

"Only try?"

"We can always only try," Lauri told Dom.

"Doesn't sound like First talk," Dom teased gently.

"No, first talk would be 'we can only try, which will be enough'."

Lauri moved so her head was on Dom's shoulder. "Do you love her?" she asked.

Dom didn't answer for a minute, thinking about the question. Was love wanting to keep her safe? Was love wanting to spend as much time with Kel as possible? Was love wanting to take her home and introduce her to his parents? Was love wanting to drag her off to somewhere quiet every time she touched him?

"I think so," Dom said finally.

"You think so. Why only think? Why not definitely know?"

"Because I'm not sure I've ever been in love before, and if I haven't, then how am I meant to know that this is love."

"Look in here," Lauri said, laying her hand over were Dom could feel his heart beating, "And if you think that you might be in love, then go for it. Because if you can find what I've found? It's worth the risk."

"Is it though?" Dom asked. "I mean, one day you'll have to say goodbye. The kings looking for suitable marriages for all of his children, Liam can't refuse them forever."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. As for Liam being worth it? I would do anything to have my time with him over again."

"Anything?" Dom asked sceptically.

"Well nearly anything," Lauri amended. "For what it's worth, I think she is worth it."

Lauri got up and left, giving Dom more time to think on his own.

-----

AN: Okay, this one was longer for you, so no complaints! Hope you liked sulky!Dom and medling!Neal. More meddling in the chap as well. How I love Sir Meathead and his endless capacityfor drama ;)


	8. Sir Meathead and friends

Disclaimer: Not mine...no really I don't own any of it.

AN: Big thank you to everyone who's reviewed, I love you guys! Here the next chapter for you.

Kel got up the next morning a little later than normal. She actually had to rush to her ready to meet the other women for glaive practise.

Her session was distracted, she had just enough concentration to lead Fianola through one or two of the easiest pattern dances, but her mind was most definitely somewhere else.

After practise, she skipped a proper breakfast, only dropping into the mess to grab a few muffins before making her way over to the Own training ground. She really wanted to find Dom and talk to him about yesterday. She hated the idea that he was still mad at her for her silly little stunt, but she was also slightly confused as to why he reacted so, so…well drastically really.

Kel had known Dom for a long time now and she had never seen him react like that because he lost at a competition. In fact, Kel was pretty sure she'd never actually seem him act like that over anything.

Kel spotted Dom sat a little away from the rest of the men who were gathered waiting for the Riders to turn up. As she walked by, she heard several grumbles about how Riders were always late, and more than a few theories on why they were so late. Several kinds of sabotage were mentioned, but Kel was pretty sure that the Riders weren't trying to convince Stormwings to attack the Own every time they were competing or trying to find enough money to pay a mage to cast ailments on them all.

Kel approached Dom quietly, almost like he was a small animal and she didn't want him to bolt in fear. When she reached his side, she sat down next to him and hugged her knees, resting her chin on her legs.

"It's a nice view," she said eventually. It was a nice view as well. They were sat at the top of a hill looking out over the Riders barracks and pony field, behind that was the Royal forest that was still covered in an early morning fog that hadn't burnt off yet.

Dom nodded but didn't reply.

Thinking she might as well start this off, Kel said, "Look Dom, I'm sorry about yesterday. I hadn't realised you'd get so upset with me or I wouldn't have done it."

"I know," Dom replied.

After a few moments it was clear that Dom wasn't going to say anything else, so Kel pushed on, trying to get him to open up a bit. "I'm not really sure what you got so angry about," Kel said.

"I got distracted," Dom said. "I pride myself on not getting distracted by anything. It could have been raining frogs out there when I took that shot and it wouldn't have bothered me one bit."

"Everybody makes mistakes," Kel said.

"That's the problem," Dom said. "I've never made that mistake before. The Riders aren't the only ones to train with distractions, the Own do it to. The first shot I took on our first training session with my lord bellowing orders, people fighting around us and horses galloping around hit the target dead centre."

"That is impressive," Kel commented.

"I couldn't care less about how impressive it is," Dom replied. "Truth is the minute I had you as a distraction I failed. What happens if that happened in the field?"

"I highly doubt that if we were in the field I'd be trying to distract you from shooting properly," Kel told him.

Dom gave her a look then continued, "I meant, what happens if you get hurt? What if you're too far away for me to do anything to help? What if you die and then I can't shoot straight because I'm thinking, 'I could have helped her'?"

"Well, it'd be nice to know that you'd at least be a bit distracted if I were to die," Kel joked.

"You're not taking this seriously," Dom said flatly.

"You're right, I'm not. Dom, this is something that has only just come to your attention now? I've been riding along with you and the Own for, what a year now? And four years before that when I was a squire, and you've only just realised that what I'm doing could be dangerous?"

"I knew it was dangerous Kel, but I never thought about…you know, not being able to help you, or getting distracted by it."

Dom stared out at the view again, trying to ignore Kel as she bit her lip, trying not to laugh. When she had herself under control she said, "Dom, as nice as it is to know that you're worried about me, I can take care of myself. And I highly doubt that if something did happen that you'd really notice enough to be distracted. We fought together before and I've been hurt and you've not noticed. I think you're just being paranoid."

"Really?"

"Yes, Really. Now, are you going to come and enjoy yourself socialising with your friends or are you going to stay over here and sulk?"

"I wasn't sulking," Dom protested.

"Oh, of course not," Kel said as she stood up and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Are you coming?"

"Give me a minute," Dom said.

"Okay," Kel said and wondered back towards the men from the Own, who seemed to have been joined by the Riders. Be waved to Kel, beckoning her over to meet some more Riders who she hadn't seen the day before.

Feeling a lot better about the current situation with Dom, Kel walked towards her new friend with a lighter heart.

Dom watched as Kel retreated to talk to Be. That hadn't gone as badly as he had imagined it was going to go. He'd already sorted out what he was going to say to Kel to explain his actions from the day before, but as he'd waited for her to find him, he'd started to get worried that she wouldn't buy it. Seemed that she had though, so now all he had to do was to cover up his feelings until he decided what he was going to do. All this made slightly harder by the fact that if he didn't flirt with her, she know something was up, and if he went to far she'd probably run all the way to Scanra before she stopped.

Dom watched Kel as she was introduced to three members of the seventeenth Rider group. She smiled and shook every hand offered, ignoring that fact that a man stood behind the Riders seemed to be scowling at her and throwing her dirty looks.

Dom always wondered how Kel put up with the conservatives. So many people still disapproved of her and Lady Alanna and what they had started among the noble class. Until Kel had tried for her knighthood, and probably until after the Scanran war as well, noble girls who wanted to train as warriors had mostly joined the Riders.

Dom knew of at least three noble born women who were working in Riders groups around the country who were all about the same age as Kel. He also knew that two of the three had a hard time convincing their parents to let them join the Riders and that the other one joined against her parents will when she reached eighteen.

He'd had a conversation with Kel about it once. He'd told her that he couldn't see the problem with girls and women who wanted to fight. Kel had told him in reply that most of the men who were against the idea came from families who had men in a position of power. Many thought that women were for breeding and showing off to their rivals. Most of those who didn't have a problem with female warriors often had strong women at the head of their families.

Dom shook his head and sent a death glare at the man who was scowling at Kel before getting up to join his team mates looking over the piece of paper that held the list of events, figuring he might as well see what he could do to make up from his poor form yesterday.

"So you're saying that yesterday Kel was with the Own and the Riders watching them compete against each other at weird tasks."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"How should I know? Probably because Dom asked her to."

Neal, Owen, Merric and Prince Roald were all sat in their mess having breakfast, and were wondering why Kel had just popped in, grabbed some rolls and practically ran out again.

"Do you think that she's going back today?" Roald asked.

"I'm not sure," Neal said. "I half assumed that they'd finished yesterday, but I'm not sure why else she'd be hurrying her breakfast."

"Maybe she's spending the day with Dom," Merric suggested, "You said that they'd had a tiff last night. Maybe he'd apologised and he's taking her out somewhere nice."

Neal chocked on his orange juice as he contemplated what Dom would be up to if he had apologised about yesterday and told Kel why he'd gotten so mad. "I'm just going to make sure she's okay," Neal said as he stood up to leave the hall. If Kel and Dom were going on a little romantic trip, he was going to insist that he go along as chaperone.

"We'll come with you," Roald said, as he stood up as well. Merric and Owen followed suit.

"I'm not sure that's necessary," Neal said, not wanting to embarrass Kel if something were going on.

"Nonsense," Merric said cheerfully, "We're as much Kel's 'big brothers' as you are. You don't get all the fun."

Neal glared at Merric, and then replied, "Just be quick okay?"

The four men disposed of their trays and left the mess hall, making for the Own's barracks and training ground were Neal had seen the competition going on the day before.

They rounded a corner and found that in their haste to get to the Own's training yard they had managed to go straight past one of the women's bath houses, which was currently being vacated by the ladies that met for morning glaive practise.

As the men tried to get past, they managed to walk straight into Yuki, Shinko, Fianola and Roald's younger sister, Lianne.

"Going somewhere in a rush?" Lianne asked.

"Just need to see Kel for a few minutes," Neal replied, giving Yuki a quick hug.

"Oh, is she okay?" Shinko asked.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Neal asked rather tartly, which he received an elbow to the stomach from Roald for.

"Oh, she just seemed a little distracted this morning during practise," Yuki said.

"Well, we'll tell you just as soon as we know," Neal said, trying to move off, but found his arm in the iron grip of his wife.

"We'll come with you," Yuki said, "Just to see for ourselves."

"Okay, okay, let's just be quick about it, alright?"

Neal's patience started to wear thin as he tried to keep pace with the slow Yamani walk that his wife and friends seemed to have perfected for times like these. None of the others were too bothered about it though. Roald was talking to Shinko about something that he probably didn't want to know, Owen was asking Fianola about her training as a squire and Merric was chatting away to Lianne.

By the time that they reached the Own's training ground Neal was half hoping that Dom was trying something on with Kel, just so he could have a good hard whack at his cousin to get rid of some of the stress that was in his system. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

By the time they arrived, the first of the competitions had started, and Kel was lost on the crowd of cheering spectators. Pushing through the crowd to get to the side of the ring, Neal found that he was watching two people, a man and a woman, circling each other, both with swords in hand.

The man was wearing the blue colours of the Own, and Neal seemed to remember being introduced to the guy a few years ago at a gathering the Own had that Kel had invited him to. The woman was in Riders gear, and looked a little familiar, but Neal couldn't quite place who she was.

Giving up on trying to guess who was fighting, Neal looked around the ring to see of Kel was anywhere in sight. He finally spotted her with a group of people in Riders uniforms, all cheering on their competitor. Much to Neal's annoyance, Lianne and Merric were also there.

"I'm sure you can save Kel from the affections of your cousin another day," Yuki whispered into Neal's ear.

"I wasn't trying to save Kel…Why? Why do I even bother?" Neal asked when he saw the humour in his wife's eyes.

"Because that's what you do," Yuki told him helpfully. "And it's why I love you."

Neal gave Yuki a hug and a kiss as the crowds dissipated from the arena were the Riders had just won another event.


	9. Introductions and Races

Disclaimer: The lovely Miss Pierce owns everything.

This chapter is dedicated to pretty how town who had a bad few day. I hope things get better for you.

Kel couldn't believe her eyes when Be disarmed Lerant in less than a minute, winning yet another event for the Riders. The Own's standard bearer was scowling heavily at Be as she took the applause of her friends and colleagues, howling in a similar fashion to when Kel had first met her.

Feeling someone tap her elbow, Kel turned to find Merric and Princess Lianne stood beside her. A feeling of dread welling up inside her, Kel glanced around the circle of spectators to see Neal giving Yuki a hug.

Turning slightly she asked, "Do I even want to know why you're here?"

Merric opened his mouth a few times, trying to make up a lie in the spot but obviously failing. Seeing his attempts to talk his way out failing, Lianne cut in, "I think we were on a rescue mission, but you seem to be holding your own." There was a twinkle in the princess's eye as she spoke which causing Merric to blush slightly to a pale pink.

By this time Roald, Shinko, Owen, Fianola, Yuki and Neal had managed to navigate their way through the waning crowds to Kel's side. Kel sighed heavily and wished that just for once Neal would let her have a day's peace without his overactive imagination pushing him to try to "save" her from only the god's knew what.

"And what exactly, Neal, would I need saving from?" She addressed the question to her best friend who was trying to look innocent.

"Why am I getting the blame for this little escapade?" he asked indignantly.

"Because it's always you that organises them, meathead,"

Dom had been stood a few yards away from Kel during the bout and hadn't left with the other spectators when they had moved onto the next event. Now he was stood just behind Kel's left shoulder, a mocking smile on his face.

Neal spluttered and everybody else in the group grinned.

"Kel, you're gonna miss the race if you don't…oh sorry," Lauri had run back to collect Kel, not realising the company she had.

"its fine," Kel said, "in fact I think introductions are in order."

With Kel as mediator, Lauri was introduced to each of Kel's friends, although she had already met Roald, Shinko and Lianne informally as part of her Rider duties. "You're all welcome to stay and watch the competition if you want," Lauri offered, "we don't normally advertise, but it's always nice to have some neutrality when it comes to the hard decisions."

It was decided that everyone would stay for at least the next event, so Lauri took the lead to a nice flat piece of ground that was normally a horse paddock. Two posts had been erected at either end of the field and four people, two in brown and two in blue, were at one end, each with horses saddled and ready.

"This is the fastest of the horse trials we do," Lauri informed the new group. "A simple race, the fastest rider wins. They travel from that post, where they're all stood now, down to the end pole and back again."

Dom, who had slung his arm around Kel's shoulder when the started to walk to the track, made a crack at Lauri, "It's sooo easy but somehow the Own managed to win every year."

"Yeah, so you can ride fast in a straight line across even terrain. However, put some jumps in and some obstacles to ride round and you're lost. It takes more than straight line speed to make someone a good rider."

Dom ignored Lauri's comment and instead asked Kel, "So who do you think will win this year?"

Kel nearly groaned aloud. It was the question she had been avoiding for the past two days. She'd managed to talk her way out of it each time someone had asked before, but she got the feeling that Dom wasn't going to let her get away so easily. "Both teams are doing well. I really don't know who's going to win,"

"But who do you want to win?" Dom asked.

Kel was left flummoxed. When she'd first been told about the competition, she's assumed that she'd be supporting the Own all the way, but here and now she honestly couldn't say she felt the same way. She's seen feats of skill, daring and down right cunning from the Riders. She had started to find herself cheering for them half the time. Plus as the days wore on she found that she actually liked the Riders, Lauri in particular was becoming a fast friend.

"I don't know," Kel said, causing Dom to come up short.

Blinking a few times to get over the surprise of Kel's answer he said, "What?"

"It's not that I like the Own any less. I mean, I still think of all of you as friends and I'll certainly still be riding with you, but the Riders are really nice. I've seen you talking to Lauri so you must know what I mean. They're fun and light and quite frankly ruthless in a way that I didn't believe possible at times."

By now, the rest of the group had left them behind as they found places to watch the race from, leaving Dom and Kel alone. Suddenly realising this, Dom felt himself becoming self conscious being alone with Kel.

Wanting to wrap this up quickly and get back with a group of people, Dom nodded his head and made a noise of agreement then turned to leave, but Kel wasn't satisfied with that.

Grabbing his elbow, Kel stopped him moving off. "I didn't mean it as an insult, Dom. I just meant that I feel I've friends in the Riders and I want them to win the same as I want you to win."

"I know, Kel." Dom tried to leave again, and Kel tightened her grip on his elbow. Dom looked down at her hand and then at her face, his eyes instantly drawn to hers. He couldn't help it, he knew he was staring but her eyes were beautiful. He knew it was corny and something that Neal would write in his gods awful poetry, but in that moment he knew what he meant.

Dom tore his gaze away from her eyes and looked at something much safer; his shoes seemed pretty safe. He could still feel Kel's hand on his arm and wondered if she knew exactly what that touch was doing to his insides.

Kel dropped Dom's elbow, feeling slightly disappointed. She knew that she wasn't meant to have enjoyed having Dom stare into her eyes, but quite frankly she didn't care at that moment. His gaze had been so intense, like he was looking into her soul.

And then he'd looked away embarrassed. He must have been thinking of someone else, but that didn't bother Kel. The feelings that she'd worked so hard at containing were straining at the bit and for once she wanted to believe, if only for a few seconds, that Dom felt the same way about her as she felt about him.

Putting the lid back on her emotions she punched Dom on the arm, then slipped her own arm through his and pulled him towards the makeshift track that had been made for the race. "At least you're guaranteed to win this race," she said, "Lauri said as much."

"We're going to need it," Dom replied, back to normal after his slight episode. "The Riders always win the obstacle races,"

"We'll see about that," Kel said mysteriously.

Dom frowned, "Why Keladry, I'd almost say that sounded threatening,"

"Just you wait and see," Kel replied letting go of his arm and wondering over to talk to Wolset.

Just as Lauri predicted, the Own won the race to even the score to four events all. After the horses, it was the turn of people to run the length of the field, first the quickest man (or woman) alone and then as a team.

A Rider than Kel hadn't been introduced to barely lost to Quasim in the individual sprint, then a squad from first company raced the forth rider group and lost.

As the group of spectators moved to a different paddock, Kel cornered Quasim and asked him where he'd been the day before. Looking slightly guilty, he explained that while Lord Raoul hadn't expressly banned them from holding the games, he wouldn't be too happy if he knew they were going ahead.

"Four years ago there were a few…accidents," he told Kel. "Three men from second company suffered broken bones and a Riders mount had to be healed by the wild mage. Both his Lordship and Evin Larse were very angry."

"We were on bread and water rations for two weeks," Dom told her from where he was walking beside her.

"I can't believe that Lord Raoul was so harsh," Kel said surprised.

"I think it was injuries that annoyed him rather then the friendly competition," Lerant added.

They'd managed to catch up to Merric, Owen, Neal, Roald, Shinko, Yuki and Lianne. Introductions were called for and it was up to Kel to mediate. As they went, more men of the Own joined the group, eager to meet Kel's other friends of whom they'd heard so much. After a while, Kel left them all chatting happily and walked ahead to see what the next event involved.

The Own's paddock had been transformed. Several jumps had been set up, seemingly at random, a few holes had been dug and some filled with water. Finally, logs had been placed in rows along the ground with small spaces between them.

"I take it this is the obstacle race," she said to Be, who'd come to stand behind her.

"Yep. It's a true test of skill and horsemanship, or horsewomanship," Be said, her eyes dancing.

"I take it you'll be competing for the riders," Kel guessed.

Be laughed. "Not me, I just run these courses for fun. Lauri will be riding Storm for the rider," she said, pointing to were Lauri was leading the grey mare to the start line.

"Do we know who's riding from the Own?" Kel asked.

"New kid from first company," Lerant said from behind the women. "I don't know his first name, but he from Tasride."

"A year-mate of mine, Seaver, is from there," Kel told the others.

"He has an older brother," Lerant confirmed. "Several actually."

They moved to the fence that surrounded the field, watching as both Lauri and Seaver's suspected brother saddled their horses and double checked every clip and buckle before mounting up.

Shinko, Roald and Lianne joined Kel by the fence. "It seems dangerous for them to race at the same time," Lianne commented.

"They won't be, highness," Be told Lianne. "We time them and the faster competitor wins. We learned that lesson a few years ago. There was a crash mid course and one of the Own's horses was hurt. We were lucky it wasn't worse mind you."

"Yeah, if Lauri hadn't been around to heal the horse, we would have been in big trouble," Lerant said.

They watched both riders take the course, but there was no arguing that Lauri had gone faster. Kel was actually very impressed with Lauri's riding. The course was complex and involved tight turns between the obstacles and precise timing to get the horse to the right point in its stride so it could take the jump.

Kel couldn't have done it with Peachblossom, even with practise, yet Lauri got one look at the course and ran it perfectly.

Kel found that Be was watching her closely. "You're impressed," she said when Kel met her eye.

"And with good reason," Kel responded. "Not many people could do that."

"She is a truly skilled woman," Shinko agreed.

"I wouldn't want to try it," Roald agree. "In fact I think I would find it hard to persuade anyone to."

"I'm glad she'd on our side," Lianne added. "I've seen her in a fight. She's fearsome when she's attacked."

"When did you see her fight, highness?" Kel asked.

"I went to see my sister in Carthak," Lianne told Kel. "Lauri and her rider group were sent with me to the harbour at Pearlmouth to act as guard while I was in Tortall. We met bandits about a day from the port. I never knew that someone could conceal so many knives on their person."

Kel raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Lauri, who was currently celebrating her victory. She seemed so nice and kind, if Kel hadn't seen her knife-throwing skills the day before she wouldn't believe it.

"I suddenly see why the Own were so worried about the First returning early," Kel said, turning to see Be give Lerant a look.

"You were worried?" she asked.

Lerant glared at her. "Only because we all know that the First are the sneakiest Rider group," he replied. "I bet it was you that kept our horses up all till dawn two nights ago."

"You're right, it was us," Be admitted. "But only because of the lovely serenade the Own insisted on playing us two hours after the midnight hour had been called."

"Pre-emptive strike," Lerant replied. "We knew you were planning something, so we made sure to hit first."

"Attack first, ask questions later. Now that sounds like the Own to me," Be said, squaring up against Lerant.

"Okay guys," Kel said, stepping between them and pushing them away from each other. "How about we all just take a few minutes and cool off."

Lerant sent Be a final glare before stalking off to a group of the Own who were stood near-by.

"Did you have to antagonise him?" Kel asked Be.

"But it's so easy to do," Be replied.

"You know, I didn't think I'd ever find someone that Lerant hates more than he hated me when I first became Lord Raoul's squire, but I think you might just be that person," Kel said.

"She just likes seeing him losing his temper," Lauri said, stepping into Kel's field of vision. "Come on," she told her friend. "We need to go talk."

Kel let them leave before turning back to the others. "I think it's lunch time," Kel said. "Let's go see what we can find."

AN: Wow, 33 reviews and 29 new chapter alerts You guys rock! So a big thank you to everyone who had reviewed or added me to lists, because it really does make me feel loved. I'm so happy that everyone is enjoying the fic so far. I hope I don't let you down!


	10. Gossip, man style

Disclaimer: Not mine, never was

After lunch everyone congregated on the edge of the royal forest were a different obstacle course was set up. To start with a twenty foot wooden wall had been erected with two ropes, knotted every few feet, anchored to the top. On the other side of the wall, someone had pegged two nets to the ground, slack enough so that someone could crawl underneath it. After the net were several logs at differing heights from the ground, some low, some high. After another, slightly lower wall there was a rope swing set up over a hole filled with water. Next was a fifty foot high net followed by several logs set end up a few feet apart. Finally, two beams had been set up, about twenty feet from the ground and twenty feet long.

Kel found Dom and asked him exactly what this task was. "It's pretty simple," Dom told her. "You go along the course, over the fence, under the net, then over the high logs and under the low ones, over the second wall, across the swing, climb up and down the net and then over the final beam."

"How many people have to do it?" Kel asked.

"Ten from each side," Dom said. "We normally get plenty of volunteer's. It's pretty fun."

Kel looked at the fifty foot net and wondered when the men of the Own went crazy. She may not hate heights anymore, but she would never be fully comfortable with them.

Neal, Merric and Owen came to stand with them. "I'd have a go," Owen commented. "It looks jolly."

Neal resisted the urge to roll his eyes while Kel suppressed a small smile.

"I'm sure we could arrange for all of you to have a go after we've finished," Dom told the group.

Roald, Owen and Merric looked excited, Neal looked slightly disgusted and Kel looked a little green at the idea. Dom smiled and moved to the group of men from the Own that were getting ready to take the course. Kel also recognised Lerant, Quasim, Fulcher and Wolset. The other five men were from first company.

For the Rider, Kel saw Be, Clio, Alun and Jake from the First, three men from Fourteenth rider group, and two women and a man from the Fifth.

Lauri was stood with Yuki, Shinko and Lianne, talking and laughing. "What do you think of Lauri?" Kel asked her friends.

"She's nice," Neal replied, sounding bored but eyes alert as he watched the women.

"She's perfect," Merric said, blushing slightly when Kel and Neal both looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? Have you seen her? She can fight, she can ride, she's pretty, and she's fun. Do I need to continue?"

"Sounds like someone's in love," Kel teased.

"Even if I was I wouldn't stand a chance," Merric told them. "She's already taken."

"Really?" Kel asked. She wasn't sure why she was a little upset that Lauri hadn't told her that she was involved with someone; they'd only known each other for a few days.

"Really," Neal replied, suddenly more interested in their conversation than in the group of women.

"I think the world may have just stopped turning," Owen joked. "A piece of gossip that Neal _doesn't_ know, it's unfathomable."

"So?" Neal prompted, ignoring Owen.

"Actually it was Lianne that told me," Merric admitted. "I'm not sure that she's even supposed to know."

"Know what?" Neal kept pressing.

"She thinks that Lauri is involved with her brother, Liam."

"I thought that the King had marriages lined up for all his children," Kel said, confused.

"He did, but he always said that if they had a good reason to refuse the suitor he wouldn't force them to marry against their will," Neal explained.

"And Liam has turned down all three marriages that his father has proposed," Merric added.

"You think he's refusing them so he can have more time with Lauri?" Kel asked.

"I don't know," Merric replied. "Lianne told me that she suspects that Liam and Lauri are together, but she has no proof."

"Why does she think that?" Neal wanted to know.

"She didn't tell me," Merric replied.

"No wonder the King's getting impatient with him," Neal added.

"But the Queen's supporting Prince Liam all the way," Merric said. "And after the fiasco with Princess Kalasin, I'm not sure the King would try to talk another child around to his point of view."

"Why, what happened with Kalasin?" Kel asked.

Neal was only too happy to oblige Kel with the details. "Kalasin wanted to try for a knighthood, but the King didn't want her to. Training is hard enough, but what if something had gone wrong and she'd been injured. When the Queen heard she was furious. I heard she made him sleep in a different wing of the palace for two months."

"I heard it was six," Owen commented.

"However long it was doesn't matter. What matters is that she was furious with him," Neal continued.

"So he forbade her from trying for her shield?" Kel asked.

"No, he talked her out of it. He convinced her that it was her duty to become a lady and marry for the good of the country."

"Which she did when she married Kaddar and became Empress of Carthak," Merric finished.

Kel found her mouth was hanging open, and closed it with a snap as her teeth cracked together. "That's extraordinary," Kel said. "So, you think the Queen would go so far as to support Liam if he wanted to marry Lauri?"

Neal snorted. "I doubt it. She knows that her children need to marry the right people rather than the people they love. The minute that the King finds a match for Liam that he can't find a reasonable objection to, she'll back the King and try to get Liam to marry."

"Do you have any idea who they might suggest next?" Kel asked.

"I heard that they're trying for an alliance with the Copper Isles," Neal replied.

"You think Queen Dove will marry outside of the Isles?" Merric asked.

"It's unlikely," Neal said. "All sources say that Dove will marry a luarin noble, someone with connections to the Rittevon line so any children will have an even stronger claim to the throne. No, they say that there's talk of a union between Liam and one of her Ladies in Waiting."

"How do you know this?" Kel asked Neal. He seemed very sure of himself.

"I have my sources," he replied mysteriously.

"He knows the Queen's spymaster," Owen told Kel, ignoring Neal's huff of protest. "I should I say spymistress. The Lioness' daughter if rumours are to be believed."

Kel turned her questioning gaze to Neal. "I met her while I was Alanna's squire," he explained. "She always wanted to follow in her father and grandfathers footsteps but they wouldn't allow it. Then during the Scanran war she disappeared. She was missing for six months and even after her father found her she refused to come home. George told me she was in the Isles when the revolution occurred, acting as the Spymaster for the rebels. She managed a lot while she was there; killing the old Spymaster, spreading the seed of discontent among the nobles, causing havoc with several strikes against the harbour, breaking political prisoners out of jail, and finally putting a half-raka Queen on the throne. He sounded so proud when he recalled everything that happened."

"But if the Lioness' daughter is Queen Dove's spymaster, why ask for an alliance at all? Surely that would be enough to ensure that the Isles never attacked us," Kel reasoned.

"No ones supposed to know though," Neal reminded Kel. "Aly's true identity is known to precious few people, in the Isles and in Tortall. Officially we have no ties to the Copper Isles, so a marriage between one of our royals and one of their high ranking nobles would be the perfect cover."

"Do you really think that the King would force his son into a marriage he doesn't want?" Kel asked.

"I think that unless Liam had a fantastic reason not to marry whomever his parent choose he doesn't have much choice," Merric told Kel. "It will have been drummed into him since he was small; his first duty is to the crown. If he can find a match that his parents can't object to, I'm sure he'd be allowed to marry her, but Lauri certainly isn't that woman."

"Do you think there's any way they'll be together?" Kel asked, feeling sad for her new friend. She seemed so happy. Kel just hoped that wouldn't disappear when the love of her life was sent to another country to marry a different woman.

"Not unless he walks away from his family," Neal replied. "Or unless Lauri can magically become the heir to a throne."

"It's sad," Kel told her friends. "To love someone and have them love you back, only to have it taken away because of who your parents are."

"It's the plot of a sappy romance book," Owen said.

"But you know the old saying," Neal added. "'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'."

Kel wasn't sure that Lauri would agree with that sentiment when the time for Liam to leave.

-

AN: A little aside to discuss recent events and have a gossip. I always liked the idea that men are bigger gossips than women, so I figured I'd have or hero's have a natter while they were waiting. The story of Princess Kalasin has come straight from Tammy herself on Sheroescentral.


	11. Obstacles in many shapes and sizes

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

-

The Own won the obstacle course challenge, and thankfully no one was injured by falling off the many high beams. Kel had been worried that of someone had fallen, it would be pretty hard to cover up what they'd been doing, and despite that fact that technically they weren't supposed to be competing, Kel found herself enjoying it.

As the crowd dispersed, Dom and Lauri called Kel and her friends over to the start of the course. Yuki, Shinko and Lianne were already there, congratulating Lerant and Dom on their victory and commiserating with Be, Clio and Jake.

"If you want a chance to complete the course, now's you chance," Dom told them. "The ladies have already expressed an interest, would you like to turn it into another race?"

Kel did a quick count and realised that there were seven women, but only six men. "I'll just watch," she volunteered when Neal pointed out the uneven numbers.

"Oh, but its fun Kel," Lauri protested. "Besides, we'll all do it at once so it won't matter of the numbers are uneven, it's the team with the slowest member that loses, and with Dom and Neal on the other team, how can we lose?" she teased.

"Kel doesn't like heights," Neal informed the group, a smug smile on his face.

Kel blushed slightly as Lauri gave her a quizzical look. "It's nothing," she said, trying to play it down. "I was afraid of them when I was younger, but I had an…experience than cured me of that problem." Looking Neal straight in the eyes she told Lauri, "I'll do it."

Neal smiled at her, knowing that by pointing out her weakness that she would want to prove him wrong and therefore have to complete the course. He knew her so well after more than a decade of friendship.

"Great," Be said, pulling Kel over to the start of the course while the other followed a little behind. "Don't worry," Be whispered into Kel's ear. "We're here for you. We'll get you through this."

Kel looked at the Rider woman and felt the gratitude flow out of her. She just hoped the Be could pick up on it.

They lined up along the line that had been carved into the ground to mark the start and Lauri counted down from three. On one, they all made for the wall, the men bickering over who should climb first while the women quickly decided that Shinko, Yuki, Clio and Be should go on ahead while Lianne and Lauri would help Kel if she got into trouble. The Yamani women climbed quickly up the rope and gracefully swung themselves over the top of the wall and back down to the ground, while the men practically threw themselves to the ground once they reached the top.

Once the other were over the wall, Lianne climbed the rope first, then Kel and finally Lauri behind her. Lianne waited at the top of the wall for Kel to reach it before clambering easily down the other side. Kel didn't even wait for Lauri to reach her before she was following the princess down the rope to the ground. She'd conquered Balor's Needle, twenty feet was nothing to her after than ordeal.

As Kel dropped to the ground, Lianne commented, "I thought you had a fear of heights, Lady Knight?"

"I did, then I climbed down the outer staircase of Balor's Needle on a windy day. Now I simply dislike them, highness."

"Please, Lady Night, call me Lianne," the princess said to Kel.

"Only if you call me Kel," Kel replied.

Lianne offered her hand and the two women shook on it as Lauri dropped to the ground beside them.

Next were the logs. Kel had no problems getting over them, her height an advantage at this point. She helped Lianne, who was just over five feet in height, over the highest of the logs while they all rolled under the lower logs with ease. It was at this point that they caught up with the stragglers from the group of men. Neal seemed to be struggling under the net and Dom and Merric were stuck behind him. Dom was poking his cousin, trying to make him move forward, but all he was succeeding in doing was annoying him.

The three women scuttled under the net easily, with a word of advice whispered from Lauri before they started. Kel waved cheekily at Dom and Neal as she slithered past them and out the other side.

As they started over the logs, Yuki, Shinko, Clio and Be were just finishing and setting up to cross the rope swing over the water. This time Kel went first, using her long legs to cross the space between the logs easily. Lianne had more trouble and Kel slowed down to help her balance when she had to overstretch to reach the next log. Lauri, while only just taller than Lianne, jumped neatly between the logs as if she did it everyday.

"I wish it were as easy as you make it look," Lianne told her as they reached the end of the log steps.

"I've had a lot of practise over the years," Lauri told her as she jumped off the last log. "Mainly when I was young and I worked in the rafters during performances my family gave. If you lost your footing while you were that far up, the only way to go was down, a long way down."

The second wall was as easy as the first, and the women had soon scaled it and landed on the other side, Lauri not even bothering with the rope but jumping from the top, landing nimbly and lightly.

Kel smiled at her friend and turned to see what was going on at the rope swing. Shinko, Yuki and Clio all seemed to have made it safely across the water, but Be had not been so lucky.

Kel wasn't sure how, but Lerant and Be had both ended up in the water and were now in the process of trying to kill each other.

Lauri rushed past Kel and Lianne and jumped into the water to try to separate her friend and the enraged standard bearer. Dom had just cleared the second wall when Lauri splashed into the water, and seeing what was going on, he rolled his eyes and ran past her to help.

It took a minute to separate them, and by the time they had, both Lauri and Dom were wet from head to toe. "What they hell is going on here?" Lauri demanded as she did her best to keep hold of Be to stop her friend from getting up and continuing her fight with Lerant, while Dom held his colleague tightly to stop him from attacking Be again.

"He started it," Be shouted.

"No, you started it," Lerant yelled back. "You pulled me in."

"You pushed me in first, I was just trying to regain my balance, which you caused me to lose," Be replied.

"You pulled me in on purpose," Lerant said, shaking his finger at Be.

She smiled sweetly and replied, "Actually yes I did. I figured if I was going in I was taking you with me."

They both started to struggle again, but Dom and Lauri held on tightly until they stopped.

"Lerant, did you try to push Be into the water?" Lauri asked.

Lerant glared at her. "Of course," he replied. "She was bragging about how easy she found the course. It only seemed fair that she take a dip."

"So you're both as bad as each other," Dom surmised. "If we let go, are you two going to try to kill each other?"

Be sent one last glare at Lerant before shaking her head. "I'll behave," she said.

"Good," Dom told her. "And you?" he asked Lerant.

Lerant scowled and said, "I'll try, but I'm not making any promises."

"Good enough for me," Dom said, letting Lerant go at the same time that Lauri released Be. The got up and climbed out of the pool, both giving each other the same look of barely disguised hatred as they walked over the net that they had to scale.

"When do you think they're going to realise just how thin the line between love and hate really is?" Lauri asked Dom as he helped her up.

"I have no idea, but I hope it's soon," he replied. "I have too many bruises from splitting up fights between then two of them."

While Kel had watched Dom and Lauri diffuse the situation, Merric and Neal had come to stand by her and Lianne having caught them up. "Did we miss something?" Neal asked, looking at Dom and Lauri still stood up to there knee in water.

"Just a minor fight," Lianne told the men. "Nothing much to worry about."

As Merric and Neal used to rope to swing across the water, Dom caught hold of Lianne's waist and hoister her over his shoulder, carrying her across the ditch to the other side. He placed her carefully on the far side and she gave him a small curtsy before moving on to the net.

Dom crossed the water back to Kel. "The wet look suits you sergeant," Kel teased as he approached. "You should wear it more often. You hair especially looks much better than normal."

Dom's hand went to his hair, finding it stuck up at odd angles from where he'd been wrestling Lerant. Looking back at Kel, an evil idea passed across his mind. He grabbed Kel's arm and yanked hard, causing her to tumble head first into the ditch with him and Lauri, who still hadn't climbed out.

Kel came up spluttering to find both Lauri and Dom laughing hard. "I can't believe you did that," Kel said when she finally removed all the water from her mouth and nose. "You just pulled me in," she repeated, hitting Dom hard on the arm.

Dom cried out in mock-pain and splashed Kel with water in retaliation. It was a matter of seconds before all three of them where involved in a serious water fight.

Neal's voice finally stopped them when he called from the top of the net, "Can't you people act like grown ups for two minutes?"

Kel and Lauri could only laugh as Dom stuck out his tongue at his cousin and Neal rolled his eyes before starting his descent.

Deciding that play time was over, Kel, Lauri and Dom climbed out of the ditch and moved over to the netting. It had been pegged so that it was at an angle, making it easier to climb than if it had been completely vertical. They set out, Dom clambering into the lead. He saluted to Lianne, who was waiting for Kel and Lauri, and he climbed over the top and started down the other side.

Did you enjoy your little dip?" Lianne enquired when the two women made it to the top of the net, a smile splitting her face making it obvious that she was much less disapproving them Neal had been.

"It was very refreshing," Kel said as she swung herself onto the beam that marked the top of the net. "I'm thinking about making it part of my morning routine."

"Speak for yourself," Lauri said. "I'd rather not repeat the experience, but then again I didn't have the charming sergeant flirting with me."

Kel blushed. "That's just Dom," she dismissed. "He does it with everyone."

"Everyone, really?" Lauri said, her tone a little too mild for Kel.

"I know that everyone thinks there's something going on between us, but it's nothing," Kel insisted.

"And if it could be something?" Lauri asked. "If there was a chance that maybe Dom wasn't just flirting with you because he always flirts?"

Kel silence was enough to confirm Lauri's comments as true. "Well, there are certainly less handsome men around," Lianne said.

"And there are also less troublesome one too," Kel replied as she started to climb down the net.

"I don't know, I think he might be worth the trouble," Lianne replied.

Kel sighed. "And the problem is that I thing the same thing."

Lauri bit her lips as she, Kel and Lianne climbed back down to the ground.

Only the final bar was left to go, but Kel wondered if this was were she might have problems. Twenty feet up wasn't far, but it was still higher than ground level, and the beam they had to cross wasn't quite a foot wide.

Lauri climbed first, using the ladder that had been put there for that express purpose. Once she was on the beam, Kel followed with Lianne a few steps behind her.

Lauri was stood on the beam like it was ten feet across, not ten inches. Kel tried to stand too, but felt her knees go when she saw the ground beyond the beam. Lauri saw Kel go pale and grabbed hold of her arm to steady her before telling her, "Sit on the beam, knees either side of it like you're riding a horse."

Kel obeyed and found she was facing Lauri, who was sat backwards on the beam. They shuffled forwards to allow Lianne to sit on the beam behind Kel while Lauri muttered encouragements.

"Now, we need to move forwards. Slowly does it," Lauri told Kel, seeing just how much she was shaking.

"I'm fine," Kel told her as she shuffled a few inches forwards, trying her best not to see that ground far below her.

"We need something to take your mind off of where we are," Lauri suggested. "Let's talk about something. You pick the topic."

Kel could only think about one thing right then. "I heard a rumour today," she said.

"What was it?" Lauri asked.

"That you were involved with Prince Liam," Kel said, still concentrating on Lauri's voice.

"Where did you hear that?" Lauri enquired.

"Oh, just a friend," Kel replied lightly. "Is it true?"

Lauri looked past Kel to find Lianne watching her closely, waiting for her answer. "Yes it is," she told the two women.

"When did you first meet?" Kel asked.

"Midwinter, three years ago," Lauri told her. "Buri was forcing me to go to all these Midwinter parties while I was recovering from a broken arm. She said she wanted someone from the Riders to be seen at these things, and I happened to be available.

"If you ask me she was just looking to punish me for having been stupid enough to have broken my arm in the first place. I've been very careful since then not to get injured around Midwinter, so she has no reason to force me into going to them again."

"Did you know who he was?" Kel asked, still inching her way forward.

"Yes, we'd been riding with the royal children all autumn. They'd all gone to visit Kalasin in Carthak, so we'd been to Pearlmouth and back too many times to remember."

"Did he know who you were?" Lianne asked from behind Kel.

"Yes, he knew. Didn't stop him from kissing me for Midwinter luck," Lauri told the princess.

"I love that tradition," Kel said. "The first time Cleon kissed me it was for Midwinter luck."

"I'm not sure that people are supposed to kiss princesses for Midwinter luck," Lianne said.

"Don't you worry Princess," Lauri told her. "You Prince will come some day."

"And if he doesn't my father will just find one for me," Lianne said, her voice holding a hint of disappointment.

"You don't want to marry for the good of Tortall?" Kel asked her.

"Just because I know my duty doesn't mean I want to marry without love Kel," Lianne said.

"You could always try to find someone," Lauri suggested.

"Yes, because so many men want to ask the King for his daughter hand in marriage," Lianne drawled.

"Maybe the right guy would," Kel suggested.

"Maybe," Lianne agreed. "But first I have to find him and that it the tricky part."

"Don't look now," Lauri said. "But we've reached the end of the beam."

Lauri somehow managed to manoeuvre her body so she was stood on the ladder. She helped Kel to the end of the beam and then started to descend as Lianne helped Kel onto the ladder before following.

When Kel's foot hit the ground, she was glad to feel solid earth under her again. "Remind me never to do that again," Kel told Lauri and Lianne jumped off the last few rungs to the floor.

"But it was fun," Lauri protested.

"Maybe for you," Kel said. "I'm keeping my feet on solid ground from now on, if it's all the same to you."

Lauri smiled at her. "But it feels good to know that you can do it."

"I suppose," Kel conceded as they walked over to where the other were waiting.

-

AN: Sorry for the late update, real life has gotten in the way darn it! I hope it was worth the wait.

Also, I need a knight master for Fionola. I don't think its even been mentioned, so I throw open the floor for any suggestion.


	12. End of the day

-

Neal saw Kel go pale and sway slightly on the beam when she tried to stand up. He started to move forward, but Dom's hand on his arms stopped him. "Lauri will help her through," Dom said voice confident, but eyes glued to where Kel was now sat on the beam.

"You have a lot of faith in Lauri," Neal commented.

"She's a good person, even if she is a Rider."

"What do you suppose they're talking about?" Neal asked as he watched the women closely.

"Women things," Dom suggested. "Who knows what women talk about when we're not around."

"Have you made a decision about Kel yet?" Neal asked, changing the subject.

"No," Dom said simply, still watching Kel closely.

"Are you going to make it soon?"

"I have no idea," Dom replied honestly.

Neal was quiet as he watched Dom watch Kel and the other women climb down the ladder to the safety of solid ground. Dom did some stupid things sometimes, but Neal got the feeling that he was going to make the right decision about Kel. It was something about the look that in Dom's eyes when he talked about her. He actually really cared about her.

-

As Kel and company caught up with everyone else in the Own's training yards they found that everyone was leaving. The last event of the day, an arm wrestling match, had been won by the Own, leaving them ahead over night.

Neal, Roald, Owen and Merric left together, talking about a new book that Neal was recommending the other men read. Dom and Lerant went off together to try to find someone to tell them about the victory in the arm wrestling.

Lauri and Be invited the women to join them in the Rider's mess for a drink, and Shinko, Lianne and Yuki agreed. Kel turned down the invitation, saying she'd promised to see Tobe and hear about his first two days with the Riders.

So, Kel returned to her room, via the pages training yard and the kitchen to request that some food be sent to her rooms in a few hours for her and Tobe to eat. As she approached her room she saw a small black and white dog sat in front of her door.

She leant down and scratched Jump behind the ear before opening her door and following her almost-pet inside. Jump had adopted Kel in her second year at the palace during her training. He had been her companion ever since, except for when he decided to go off for an adventure alone. The first few times he'd done it Kel had been worried and asked Daine for assistance in tracking him down. He normally returned after a few days, sometimes with a souvenir of his trip or a new scar, and soon Kel had stopped worrying. This time he'd been away for a total of five days and had a newly healed scar on his rump.

Sitting down on one of the sofa's, Kel let Jump get up beside her so she could give him a good scratch behind the ear before he left her to curl up in the basket that Kel kept in her room for him to sleep in.

Two hours later, Tobe returned, skin pink and hair wet from a recent bath. The smile on his face was infectious, and Kel soon found herself smiling back.

"I take it you've had a good day?" Kel asked pleasantly.

As the words tumbled out of Tobe's mouth, Kel felt happy that everything had worked out so well for him. She had been worried about how well Tobe would be treated by the Riders. She knew that the Riders in general were good people, but she also knew that good people would often treat servants as little better than slaves without even realising it and her dealings with Lalasa had taught her that just because the person in charge was good didn't mean that problems could occur.

"And you'll never guess who came to visit me yesterday," Tobe finished.

"Who?" Kel asked.

"Daine, the wild mage. Apparently Onua asked her to come see me and help me to control my magic better," Tobe told Kel. "She's going to give me lessons in meditation to help me focus and then she's going to teach me to _heal_."

Kel sat a little straighter. "Daine say's you could learn to heal?"

Tobe nodded furiously. "She's says my magic's really strong, stronger even that Lauri's. She says I'm a quick learned too," he confided.

"That's amazing Tobe," Kel said, honestly happy for him.

"She even suggested that maybe one day I could join a Rider group and go out in the field. We could work together," Tobe said. "Side by side, Rider's and the Own."

"We already work together," Kel reminded him.

"Yes, but as lady and servant, this would be different."

"Tobe, I don't think of you as my servant," Kel told him, reaching out a hand to take one of his and squeeze it gently. "I think of you as my little brother, my friend. You know me better than many people and I trust your judgement in many things."

Tobe was looking at the floor. "I know you do m'lady, but you shouldn't," he protested.

"I will think of you however I like," Kel informed him. "And if I will make you feel better you should know that there is nothing I would like more than to work side by side with you, as a Rider or as anything else you may want to be."

Tobe grinned up at her. "There's a reason they call you Protector of the Small," he said, before ducking the hand that swatted at his head.

"Tell me more about your day," Kel suggested, changing the topic from her detested nickname.

-

AN: So I figured that seeing as today is my birthday I could tear myself away from my work to have a bit of fun. I know this chapters short, but I figured that anything is better than nothing. Hopefully I'll get some more time to work on the story when my exams finish.


	13. Thinking and Drinking

The muse arrived again, so here the next part. It's not long, but it's better than nothing.

-

Dom laid on his bed thinking. He could hear the sounds of his fellow warriors celebrating their victories from today's events outside. He just hoped that they weren't drinking too much. Tomorrow's events were two war game simulations that involved the participation of nearly all of third company. Dom hated to think how they would fair if half the men were hung-over.

Sighing, Dom let his thoughts wonder from the noise outside the window to a much more pleasant train of thought; Kel.

She'd rarely been out of Dom's thoughts all day. He was slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that he was on love with her. He'd always known that whatever he felt for Kel was deep; it was just that up until a few days ago he'd thought it was friendship he felt. Now that he was faced with this new truth, he'd started to re-evaluate his actions when it came to Kel.

But looking at the past wasn't going to help him make his decision. What he needed to do was look at the future, at the consequences of their being together, assuming she wanted him.

Kel's parents had not pushed her into marriage. They understood that as a warrior, an arranged marriage would not suit Kel or her lifestyle. His own parents had also never made plans for marriage, despite his mother's best efforts to marry him to the daughter of a friend. His older brothers had both married well and now had children, placating his mother need for grandchildren, at least for now.

Dom knew that if he and Kel married that they would both be happy. At least, he would be and if Neal was right he suspected that Kel would be too. If it was anything like the friendship they had at the moment, Dom was sure that they would be happy for a very long time.

But what would this thing be. Would they get married? Would they simply be lovers? Would they court like other nobles?

Dom wanted marriage, but he'd never found the right woman to ask. Would Kel want to get married? Dom knew that she'd seriously considered staying with the Tyran lord a few years ago, but the plan for them to marry? And what about children? Would Kel want children given that her work meant that she could be killed at any time? Again, it was not something that he had ever discussed with Kel during their long friendship. She seemed to love each and every refugee child that was placed in her care, and she always enjoyed training with the pages. But did she want a child of her own?

Dom dropped his head back against his pillow and slowly let out a breath. The thing was, even if Kel's answers to all these questions were completely different to his, Dom would still want to be with her.

So this was love. The willingness to change all your plans for another person, just so you could be with them, see them smile, hear them laugh, be close to them.

And right then, Dom decided that he would tell Kel how he felt about her.

-

The noble women had left the Rider's mess about an hour earlier, just as the sun began to set over the palace walls. Half an hour ago, Lauri had left to find Liam for a late night tryst somewhere in the palace grounds, leaving Be to amuse herself.

She had been tempted to try to sleep, even though she wasn't tired yet. Then she thought she might go to the palace kitchens to see if there were any leftovers to be begged from Aloni the cook, but half way to the kitchens she realised that Aloni had returned to Port Legann for a week to see her family there and the cook who was replacing her was a witch of a woman who refused to feed 'the help' with the royal leavings.

So, Be had turned around and headed back to the Rider barracks, taking to long winding route to waste time in returning. Too late she remembered that her longer route took her past the Own's barracks and mess hall. From the noise levels coming from the mess, she guessed that most of third company were celebrating their success in today's events.

Be rolled her eyes and thanked the gods that the Own enjoyed their celebration so much. At the rate they seemed to be going, they wouldn't be fit to take part in the war games tomorrow, giving the Riders two easy victories.

Be was almost past the patch of light that spilled from the Own's mess when she heard someone's drunken drawl, 'Here to try to sabotage us again?'

Be turned to see Lerant walking towards her from the mess door, stumbling slightly as his feet didn't quite do what his drunken feet were telling him to do. 'I don't need to. You're doing a good job of sabotaging yourselves,' Be replied.

'And wha' do you mean by that?' Lerant asked the alcohol he'd consumed slurring only a few of his words.

'I mean, if you insist on drinking, you'll be so hung-over that you won't be in a fit state to compete tomorrow,' Be said, standing with her hands on hips as Lerant stumbled towards her.

'I'll have you know, tha' it takes more 'en this to get me drunk,' he told her, stopping close enough that she could smell the drink of his breathe.

Be pushed him back slightly to get the stink of ale out of her face, but Lerant's poor balance caused him to fall on his ass in the dirt. 'You pushed me,' he said, outraged despite his drunken state.

'I barely touched you,' Be told him. 'Besides, I owe you for pushing me earlier. Just be grateful that you didn't end up in a puddle.'

'You pushed me,' Lerant said again, almost like he was trying to comprehend how he ended up on the floor.

Be rolled her eyes for a second time in as many minutes and held out her hand to help Lerant up. He stared at it for a few seconds before grabbing it. Be pulled but without Lerant's help, all she succeeded in doing was dragging him a few inches closer to her.

'If you want up, you'll have to do your bit,' Be said tugging on his arm to try to make her point.

'You're pretty,' Lerant slurred, staring up at Be and tilting his head to one side, almost like he was trying to see her differently.

'And you're drunk, which is why I'm going to forget you said that.'

Be gently tugged on his arm again, hoping he'd remember that she was still waiting to help him up. Instead, Lerant yanked on her arm, causing her to fall forward onto him. She managed to brace her hands on either side of his head to stop them from colliding, but the rest of her body ended up sprawled on top of him.

'Are you insane?' she asked, her head only a few inches from his.

'You're pretty,' Lerant said, as if that was an explanation for what just happened.

'What am I thinking, you're drunk of course your insane,' Be said, trying to justify in her head exactly why she hadn't simply jumped off him as soon as he'd pulled her down.

'Still pretty,' Lerant said before leaning up and planting his lips on Be's softly.

Stunned, Be had no idea what to do, until something that wasn't her brain took over and started to kiss Lerant back. For some reason, Be had never considered Lerant as anything other than someone to verbally, and sometime physically, spa with. He always gave as good as he got, and didn't go easy on her because she was a woman. It really hadn't occurred to her that he was a man, and not a completely unattractive man at that. She'd heard some of the other Rider women discuss the physical attributes of the men of third company. They all seemed to agree that Lerant was worth a tumble, and Be was starting to agree.

At some point, Lerant had managed to roll them so he was now laid half across Be, his weight pushing her into the hard floor. They'd also managed to deepen the kiss, but who had initiated it Be really wasn't sure. The desire that was coursing through her made Be thing that maybe it had been her.

They broke away at the same point, both breathing hard. Be wasn't sure to do at first, then she heard someone move near the door to the Own's mess and a man called, 'Lerant, you out here?'

The spell broken, Be pushed Lerant off her and jumped to her feet. She didn't dare look at him as she turned and ran as fast as she could back to her barracks.

She closed the door lightly and stood with her back to it, breathing hard, and not just because she'd run from the Own's barracks. She'd just kissed Lerant. And she liked it. There was no denying that little fact.

Why had he kissed her? He had definitely kissed her first. He had leaned up and pressed his lips to hers, initiating the madness that followed. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure that the rest of it had been her fault. She'd been the one to ask for more, and even though he'd obliged, he was sure to remember that she'd responded to his initial kiss.

But would he?

He'd had a lot to drink, Be reasoned. Had he had enough for him to forget what had happened or would he wake up tomorrow knowing exactly what had transpired between the two of them?

'If you're going to bed, go to bed. If you want to stand and ponder the world do it somewhere else?' Lauri said sleepily from her bed a few feet away.

Be sighed and moved to get ready for sleep. She could do nothing until she knew exactly what Lerant remember, if anything. She just dreaded that in the morning everyone would know what had happened. Or maybe she dreaded more than no one would.

-

AN- Hopefully I'm back on this fic now. Might be a pipedream, but one can hope.

If you liked, please leave a review to let me know I'm loved. I can be very insecure like that.


	14. Busted!

Due to popular demand, I have finally gotten a beta for my new chapter. Big thanks to Dragoneyesbarbaroo for taking the time to check it over. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.

And now the bit you're all been waiting for...

-

Kel woke early when she heard Tobe moving about in her living area. She didn't get up until all went quiet, signaling that Tobe had left for the Rider's barracks. If she had put in an appearance Tobe would have felt guilty that he'd woken her so early, particularly after he'd kept her up late talking the night before.

She dressed quickly and made her way to the practice court reserved for the ladies' morning glaive practice. She bowed to the Queen, who was talking to Buri in hushed tones, before making her way to the corner were Yuki, Shinko and Lianne stood chatting.

They greeted her gladly and regaled her with an account of their evening with the Rider's the day before until the Queen signaled for Lianne to join her, and the other women started to pair off. Kel was pleased to find Fianola, as well as two other boys, one in squire's garb and one in loose training gear, stood off to one side looking slightly nervous.

Kel took pity on them and went over to talk to them.

Fianola introduced the boys as William of Marti's Hill, Quinden's younger and much nicer brother; and Alan of Pirate's Swoop, who pinked slightly at the mention of his mother that went with his introduction. Kel would have bet money that Alan had asked Fianola not to tell Kel who his mother was. It wouldn't have mattered though; Kel knew exactly who Alan was, having seen him running around in the years that he'd squired for Raoul.

Kel nodded and shook both of their hands before drilling Fianola on the pattern dance that Kel had shown her the day before. Kel was impressed by the amount that she'd remembered, and Fianola shyly told her that she'd practiced the night before in her free time. That was when William had found her and asked what she was doing, and expressed interest in joining her and the other women for their morning practice.

Fianola quickly begged forgiveness if it wasn't okay for the boys to be there, but Kel waved her off, telling all three of them that the reason it was only women who ever practiced in the mornings was that very few Tortallan men seemed interested in learning the use of the weapon when they already knew how to use a spear. It didn't help that the only people proficient in using the weapon in Tortall were women. Many men thought that this meant that it was a woman's weapon, and therefore beneath them to use.

'Well, that's idiotic,' Alan said, watching the pairs of women who were sparring. 'Just because a weapon is normally used by a woman doesn't mean it can't be used by men, or that it won't kill you if you happen upon a woman using one.'

Kel was shocked by this statement, and then remembered who she was talking to. Of course the son of Alanna the Lioness would believe that women were just as capable as men when it came to fighting, he's witnessed it first hand from the cradle.

In short order, Kel had all three youngsters repeating the pattern dance that she'd taught Fianola the day before, watching them closely for any mistakes. When William sped up and started making errors, Kel slowed him back down and showed him were he was going wrong. 'A word of advice,' she told him. 'Learn it well slowly before you start to speed up, or the mistakes you make when you're slow will come back to haunt you.'

Even though she had not managed any practice of her own, Kel came away from the session feeling good. Fianola had managed the dance at a reasonable speed with no mistakes, and Kel had added a few new moves to the dance for her to practice tonight.

Once the session finished, Kel fell in with Yuki, Shinko and Lianne as they made there way to the women's baths. Kel quickly scrubbed and washed her hair, apologizing for the rush, but she wanted to grab some food before she left to find out where the games were being held that day.

The Yamani women told her not to bother. Once they had bathed they would go to the kitchens and procure enough food for the small group of nobles who would undoubtedly gather again that day to watch the Own and the Riders compete.

Kel thanked them before hurrying out of the baths to find her friends.

-

Kel found everyone on the hill overlooking the cluster of small outhouses that had been used by the pages and squires to practice group combat. The third day, Yuki had informed Kel earlier, involves two war game scenarios; the first, where the Own would be the attacking force while the Riders defended, and the second, where the Riders would be attacking while the Own defended.

The purpose of the exercise was for the attacking force to save a 'prisoner' held by the defending force somewhere in the buildings, while the defending force has to try to 'kill' as many of the attackers as possible. The attacking force wins if the prisoner is safely rescued. The defending force wins if they manage to kill all the attackers and keep the prisoner from being found.

A coin toss the night before had signaled that the Riders would be defending first, while the Own tried to rescue their prisoner.

When Kel arrived, the Riders were in the process of hiding their prisoner in the buildings. As it only took a few people to do this, the rest of the Riders were milling about, stopping any of the Own from looking too closely at the buildings.

Seeing Neal, Merric and Owen chatting casually with a group of the Own, Kel merely waved at them before walking over to where Be and Lauri were stood.

'Good morning,' she greeted them as she approached, then suddenly wished she'd sounded less cheerful when she saw the two women.

Lauri eyes were blood-shot and there were slight bags under her eyes. Kel wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't slept at all the night before.

Be, while looking more rested than Lauri, was glancing all over the place, eyes never staying in one place for too long. Kel thought it obvious she was looking for someone, and from the scowl painted on Be's face, she already felt sorry for whoever it was.

'Are you both alright?' Kel asked, worried for her two new friends.

Lauri didn't answer. In fact, her gaze remained unfocused, as if she were staring at something that was ten feet in front of her. Be let her eyes rest on Kel for a few seconds before asking, 'Have you seen Lerant this morning?'

'I've only just arrived,' Kel said in an apologetic tone, wondering what the standard bearer had done this time to upset Be. Whatever it was, Kel hoped that he was heavily armed when Be finally caught up with him.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get any friendly conversation out of the two, Kel left them to their musings to go join Neal and Merric, who had been found by Yuki, Shinko and Lianne.

True to their word, the ladies had brought breakfast with them, as well as two big blankets that they spread out on the hill for them to sit on while they watched the 'battle' unfold.

A horn sounded somewhere inside the outbuildings, and the Riders, who had been milling around, waiting for their team mates to hide their prisoner, made their way into their designated positions, each carrying an assortment of practice weapons covered in red chalk. The Own, who were now congregating to finalize strategy, had weapons with blue chalk on them, which made it possible to differentiate who had 'killed' who.

Kel watched the Own as they planned, Dom at the centre of the group who stood around a map drawn in the dirt. Watching him, Kel felt herself smile slightly. If there was one thing that Dom did well, and there were many things, but one in particular was strategy. She knew this from all the evenings she'd spent with Lord Raoul and the Own while she'd been a squire, listening to the men debate tactics on long ago battles.

Shaking herself back to reality, Kel dropped down onto a blanket next to Neal and Yuki and tucked into a pastry from one of the baskets that the women had bought.

-

Once breakfast was finished, the nobles spread themselves out over the blankets and watched as the Own began their attack.

'So, where do the Own need to get their prisoner to for them to be declared 'free'?' Neal asked.

Lianne pointed to a small post at the bottom of the hill. 'It's supposed to represent a hitching post that a horse could be tied to. Both sides agree that once the prisoner is on a horse, it would be near impossible to catch them again,' she explained.

'What if the defenders have horses?' Merric asked. 'Surely they could pursue?'

Lianne smiled and said, 'Lauri told us last night that the first time they used this event, the plan was to get the prisoner back to the team's respective barracks. Unfortunately, that led to a fair amount of chaos when the Riders ambushed the Own in their stable yard.'

'It was the first time Lord Raoul found out about the games,' Lerant said, causing Kel to jump slightly. He had a red chalk smear on his chest from where a pretend arrow had hit him, 'killing' him for this round. 'Anyone mind if I steal a roll?' he asked, taking the one offered by Lianne before dropping down on the grass next to the blankets.

They watched closely as a trickle of men in blue with red chalk marks slowly made their way out of the buildings, all looking unhappy; apparently the Riders had their sharp shooters somewhere high up were they had a good view of the whole compound.

As time went by though, a small number of men and women in brown with blue chalk stains started to appear as well, congregating on the left side of the blankets, while the 'killed' Own occupied the right side. It was one of the Riders that pointed to the top of the hill and said, 'I think we've got ourselves an audience.'

Everyone turned to see what the man was talking about, but it was Kel who sighed and called, 'You might as well come down and watch from here, you'll have a better view.'

Neal looked confused as the small group of people stood and slowly made their way down the hill. 'Is that Alan of Pirates Swoop?' he asked as the group got closer.

Kel nodded. 'And Fianola, and Quinden's younger brother, William.'

'And several other squires by the looks of things,' Merric added as Kel counted heads.

There were four other squires, making the group seven in total. When they were only a few feet away from the blankets, Kel told them, 'You better have permission from your knight master to be here.'

Each of the squires quickly affirmed that they had permission to be there, while Alan simply sat down on the blanket next to Neal and started to recite news from home. Apparently his sister's triplets were doing fine, and she was expecting twins in a few months. Neal replied that if you married a crow, what did you expect, which really confused Kel, but she felt it prudent to ask about that another time.

Fianola moved to sit next to Lianne, back straight and eyes slightly fearful until Lianne managed to strike up a conversation with the young squire. It was only then that Kel realized that their ages were so different.

The rest of the young squires had managed to situate themselves around Merric, who was commentating on the tactics that the Own seemed to be using to get around the Riders to their prisoner. The squires seemed to be in awe of Merric's knowledge on the subject, but after two wars he'd picked up quite a bit in the area of tactics and strategy.

Twenty minutes later, the Own seemed to have retreated to a safe distance again, having lost half their force to the Riders weapons. To their credit, there were a number of Riders sitting by the blankets, but not that many.

The group was so interested in what the Own's next move was going to be, they didn't hear anyone approach from behind until it was too late. 'And what is all this?' a voice asked, loud enough to make the whole group jump, but not loud enough to carry all the way to where Dom and Osbern were rallying the remaining men.

Kel's heart thudded in her chest when she recognized the voice behind her. Apparently the men of the Own recognized it to, as they jumped to their feet from their varied positions to stand at attention. The Riders and the group of squires, knights and ladies all turned to find Lord Raoul looking distinctly unimpressed at the scene before him.

Lerant was the first to recover enough to try to stammer through an explanation, but the look of Raoul's face made him stumble to a stop mid-sentence. 'I told you they were up to something,' Buri said, a slight amused smile on her face. Now that she was no longer in change of the Riders, this wasn't her problem to deal with.

Raoul's face stayed stern for a few more seconds before one corner of his mouth quirked upwards. 'At least tell me we're winning this year,' he said, but before anyone could answer, a scream erupted from the buildings.

-

Yes, it's a cliffhanger!

Nine days till I meet Tammy! Yes, after eight years of worshipping at the alter of Miss Pierce, I'm finally going to get to meet her. I'm not sure if I'm more excited or nervous.

So, anyone else going to DragonCon?


	15. Fights and explanations

AN: I figured that you'd want this as soon as I finally managed to get it written so it's not beta'ed. Still it should be pretty mistake free. Appologies for any mistakes, they're all mine!

So without further ado...

-

The scream pulled everyone's attention away from Raoul and back to the 'battle' before them. At the sound of the scream, Dom had rushed towards one of the buildings near the edge of the mock-compound where the scream had come from. Once the initial scream had subsided, yelling started that was loud enough for the group on the hill to hear, though Kel couldn't make out what was being shouted.

They didn't have to wait long to find out what was going on. A minute later, Dom emerged holding onto a livid Lauri, fighting hard to keep hold of her as she struggled to get free. After them came Alun, another member of the first rider group, yanking a disgruntled looking young man with him.

Lianne groaned at the same time that Owen said, "Isn't that Prince Liam?"

Kel looked closer at the man and saw the coal black hair and blue eyes that were prevalent features of the Conte men. He wasn't fighting the much bigger man, but his eyes were glaring daggers a Lauri as she struggled to get out of Dom's grip.

"I thought they were…"

Neal wisely didn't finish the sentence he'd started having considered the company there were in. However, everyone understood were he'd been going.

"I believe this may have something to do with why the King is so displeased this morning," Raoul said. All eyes in the group swung to him expectantly, causing the big knight to let a small laugh slip before Buri elbowed him in the side.

"Don't be mean," she scolded. "Can't you see you've a captive audience?"

"I don't know much," Raoul admitted. "But I do know that at during dinner last night, Liam said something to his father that caused shouting, and shortly after the shouting stopped a runner was sent to the Rider's barracks to summon someone."

"He interrupted dinner," Lianne said softly. "He was just a normal runner. We assumed that some noble's horse was sick. She's been called in the middle of the night by the stables before, if Daine wasn't around to help."

"Putting two and two together, my guess would be that your father pushed Liam for an answer on the latest marriage proposal," Raoul said, sighing. "Jon never was good at seeing something that was right in front of his face."

Kel was surprised at Raoul candidness in front of so many people, nobles and soldiers alike. She couldn't help but be reminded of his advice to her about questioning the king in such a public way.

"I think my mother knew," Lianne added. "She was always especially nice to Lauri. She asked her questions about her personal life, tried to get to know her more than with any of the others from First group."

A voice from the group of Rider's behind Kel said, "Lauri never did want the King and Queen to find out about the affair." It was Jack, one of Lauri's team mates. Kel hadn't even seen him sit down in the group, but he had a blue chalk mark on his chest so must have been 'killed' in the game at some point.

"Why not?" Owen asked. "From everything I've heard about them, they seem to be in love. Well, when they're not trying to kill each other," he added.

Both Jack and Lianne opened their mouths to answer, but Shinko beat them to it. "Lauri is not a foreign princess," the Yamani said softly, but her voice was loud enough to carry over the group. "The king has made it clear that he wishes his children to marry for the good of Tortall, not for love."

"But he's already made two good matches with the Yamani Isles and Carthak," Lerant put in. "Surely he could allow Liam to marry for love."

"But Lauri isn't a noble," Buri explained. "I have no doubt that if Liam or Lianne wanted to marry within the noble ranks of Tortall, the king would allow it. But Lauri is common-born."

"Good enough to be a human shield, but not to be the mother of royalty," Neal said, eyes downcast as he put to voice the though that no one else wanted to.

The silence that fell over the group made Kel realise that there was also quite from the bottom of the hill. Looking down, Kel saw that Lauri was no longer being held back by Dom and Liam had been released by Alun, who was now watching the two of them, ready to pull them apart should someone say the wrong thing.

Dom, however, was looking straight at Kel. She felt a shiver run down her spine at the look in the sergeant's eyes. He looked determined and something else that Kel couldn't describe, but she could feel her cheeks flushing.

Turning back to the group she was sat with, Kel was surprised to find herself under more silent scrutiny. Raoul was looking at her, eyes curious and almost approving.

Confused at her former mentor's look, Kel thought it was time to find out exactly what had been happening between Lauri and Liam.

-

When Dom heard the scream, his training kicked in instantly. Most people would probably run away from screaming, and they would be sensible to do so, but the Own are trained that when someone needs help, and screaming generally indicated that help was needed, you ran to see what could be done.

By the time he entered the building, he could hear the shouting quite clearly. He immediately recognised the woman's voice as Lauri, but couldn't place the male voice. Following the sound, he found the room were the voices were coming from.

Pausing for only a few seconds, he saw Alun stood between Lauri and Prince Liam, trying to keep Lauri from hurting the prince while also trying to stop Liam from getting too close to Lauri. It only took a few paces for Dom to grab Lauri's arms and pull them behind her back, effectively neutralising the chance that Lauri could accidentally commit regicide.

Lauri struggled in Dom grip before she realised that Dom had her held tight. Turing from Liam, she yelled at Dom, "Let me go Dom, or gods help me I'll-"

"No," Dom interrupted. "If I let you go, you'll do something you regret, and I don't want to see you up on Traitor's Hill because of this idiot."

Even though Dom couldn't point it was obvious he was referring to Liam. The prince's eyes moved from Lauri to Dom, but before he could make and kind of defence, Lauri was speaking.

"Don't you call him an idiot," she yelled, struggling even harder in Dom's grip, her aim now not to get free but to somehow cause damage to the Own sergeant.

Stunned at Lauri's defence of him, it took Liam a moment to come back.

"Oh, so now you care?" the prince spat at Lauri. "It's strange that you weren't this vocal about your feelings last night when it counted."

Lauri turned back to Liam, eyes livid. "I care, but that wouldn't have stopped your father from disapproving of us. He'd already made up his mind the minute he knew who I was. I'm common Liam, and nothing is going to change that. I will never be good enough for you in his eyes and the amount I may care for you won't change that!"

"Okay, that it's," Alun's voice rumbled in the small room. "Outside, both of you."

Dom pulled Lauri back out of the room, forcing her to walk with him or be dragged. She stumbled a few steps then got her feet under her, walking ahead of Dom out of the building and onto the grassy space at the foot of the hill.

Dom was Alun drag Liam out after them, one huge hand on the prince's arm steering him a few yards away from Dom and Lauri.

Dom let his grip on Lauri loosen, thinking that maybe the worst was over. Unfortunately, Liam chose that particular moment to throw another insult in Lauri's direction. Lauri surged forward and nearly got out of Dom's hold before he managed to tighten his grip again.

Lauri started to scream and yell again, but Dom wasn't particularly paying attention to the words. He was having a great deal of trouble keeping the struggling Lauri from escaping and from the rage that she was projecting, Dom didn't give good odds that Liam would survive in one piece if she did.

Once he managed to get a better grip on Lauri, Dom chanced a glance across to where Alun was holding Liam. While the big man hadn't hit the prince yet, his grip on Liam's arm was very tight and would probably leave a mark in the days to come. As far as Dom was concerned, he was getting much less than he deserved. In fact, if it wasn't his duty to protect the royal family, he might have been inclined to let Lauri go and watch her paste the prince.

Lauri's rant came to an end when she needed to take a breath for air. At this point, Alun put one hand over Liam's mouth to stop him from saying something that would set Lauri off again.

Dom again loosened his grip of Lauri slightly and asked, "If I let you go, do you promise not to hurt him?"

Lauri, who was breathing heavily from her yelling and her efforts to free herself nodded without saying anything. Slowly, Dom let go of Lauri's arms and went to stand in front of her, ready to grab her again should something go wrong.

Alun let go of Liam, and this time the prince sensibly stayed quiet rather than throw more slurs. Moving between the two fighters, he asked, "Now, are we going to talk this through like adults, or are we going to have to restrain you again."

Dom quietly listened to the quick explanation that the pair gave to Alun for the fighting. Apparently the King had pushed Liam for a reason that he didn't want to marry the latest of the foreign princess that he'd been pushing the prince into marrying. Liam had snapped that he didn't want to marry her because he was in love with someone else.

At first the king had been excited. Not many people knew that the King actually felt a little guilty making arranged marriages for some of his children. To find that one of them wanted to marry for love and not for politics was a salve on his conscience.

Then he'd found out who it was his son wanted to marry, and all hell had broken loose between father and son. The Queen had tried to intervene and calm them down, but eventually the King had sent the nearest runner to fetch Lauri from the Rider's barracks.

When Lauri arrived, she found dinner abandoned and Liam and the King in the middle of a huge argument. The Queen had apparently given up trying to calm the two of them and was sat awaiting her arrival.

At this point, Dom's attention started to wonder from the story of the night before. He wasn't stupid. There was no way that the King would allow Liam to marry Lauri without some sort of miracle intervening, and apparently Liam was the only one who thought that his father could be talked around.

Letting his gaze wonder up the hill, Dom caught site of the group sat there, deep in discussion. His eyes lit on Lord Raoul, but they didn't stop until they came to rest on Kel. Her gaze was moving from person to person, indicating to Dom who was talking in the group at the time, before they came to rest on Neal.

He said something and the whole group seemed to grow sad. Kel's normally smiling mouth was down turned and her eyes were sad. Dom felt his heart ache and he immediately wanted to comfort her, make her laugh so she didn't feel sad anymore.

And if everything went according to plan, not that there was so much of a plan as a general idea, that would soon be his job.

So caught up in his feelings, Dom didn't realise that Kel was looking at him until she turned away, cheeks flushed slightly as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't.

-

AN: Okay, so before you start throwing stuff....*ducks*

Yeah, it's been a while (too long!) since I posted. Real life combined with writers block really messed me up a bit, but I'm back and I'm gonna try to get back to more regular updates. And just to reassure you, this story WILL BE FINISHED! I'm not going to leave it half finished. There may be some long gaps in between chapters, but it will end up done! Fear not!

Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed in the past and everyone who has come back despite to long absence. Those reviews have been whats kept me writing (or atleast trying to!) these last few months. I hope you enjoyed the new chappie, I'll try to get some more story to you soon...although I said that last time too...


	16. Finally!

AN: Please take note of the chapter title. I find it very apt :P

-

Kel arrived just in time to see Prince Liam stalk off in the direction of the palace and Lauri head off towards the Riders barracks. She saw Alun give Dom a look that said 'what can you do?' before he followed after his friend, his long strides eating up the ground between them.

'I take it that they didn't kiss and make up,' Kel guessed as she glanced at Alun and Lauri's retreating backs. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Be and a few other Riders detaching from the group sat on the hill to follow them back to the barracks.

'Right now I think there's more chance of Neal taking Peachblossom out for a gentle ride in the countryside,' Dom joked.

'I'm sure if we give them time…'

Kel found that she couldn't find it in herself to finish her sentence. If Raoul was right, then the chances of Liam and Lauri making up were probably quite low, and the chances of them staying together for any length of time were abysmal.

'Maybe,' Dom replied.

Dom watched Lauri as she sped up to try to shake off the people following her.

Shaking his head, Dom realised that in all the time he'd known Lauri, he'd never seen her ask for help. She was a fiercely independent woman who hated having to rely on others. The only exception came in the form of First group and the work she did with them. Dom knew that she would trust each and every one of her group-mates with her life, but outside of that she had always been in control of the situations she'd found herself in.

Being confronted by the King about her relationship with Liam must have shaken her more than she ever let on. Suddenly being in a place where she had no control over what was happening with no time to even try to prepare herself for what was about to happen must have knocked her world on its side.

Dom turned away from Lauri's retreating form to find Kel staring at him. 'What?' he asked, feeling his face flush under her scrutiny.

'You looked thoughtful,' Kel told him, a small frown creasing her forehead.

'I was just thinking about Lauri and the things she said to Liam just now,' Dom said. 'I think she's more upset over this than she looks.'

Kel smiled gently at him. 'You care for her a lot, don't you?'

Dom was a little perplexed at the question. Kel had said it with such certainty that it seemed more like a statement than a question.

'She's a good person. I don't just mean someone who does good things. She truly believes in helping people who can't help themselves, and doing the right thing just because it's the right thing to do. She gives so much and never expects anything in return for it.'

'Why is it always the good people that get the hardest roads in life?' Kel asked.

Dom had to chuckle a little at the sigh in Kel's voice. 'That's a question for smarter men than me to answer,' he told her.

They stood in silence for a few moments before movements on the hill pulled their attention back to the present.

'I think our companions may have decided that its time for midday meal,' Kel commented as she watched several of the squires running off towards the castle while the rest of the still assembled crowd of nobles, knights, Riders and Own spread out along the hill.

'Someone suggested a picnic earlier,' Dom informed Kel. 'It wouldn't surprise me if our squires return with baskets full of food.'

Kel rolled her eyes. 'Only the Own could be thinking about lunch as they're preparing for battle.'

'A mock battle,' Dom protested, a pretend hurt look on his face.

Kel looked at him and smirked. 'I'd stop pouting if I were you. You might get stuck like that.'

The shocked look on Dom's face was enough to set Kel to laughing hard. Once he realised that she'd been teasing him, Dom let himself smile as well. He couldn't help it, anything that made her laugh like that was fine by him, even if it did mean his pride got a dent.

Making a snap decision, Dom grabbed Kel's hand a gently tugged her towards the outbuildings near-by. Kel looked puzzled but let herself be led to one of the small sheds that had been used earlier by the Riders as a look-out point.

Dom pulled her inside and made sure that no one from the hill had seen them enter the building before turning to face her. She still looked puzzled, but her eyes held something else to. Was Dom imagining it or did he see anticipation in her eyes?

'Dom what are you-'

Dom cut her off by putting two fingers over her lips before she could finished the question. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the fast beat of his heart, he leaned forward and replaced his fingers with his lips.

Dom grabbing her hand had been like a bolt of lightening straight up Kel's arm. Under her shirt, she could feel the hairs on her arms stand on end and suddenly she had to remember to breath.

She let him lead her away from the hill to one of the now-abandoned huts, noting that he kept glancing back at the hill to see if anyone was looking at were they were going. Suddenly, all sort of images and scenes that could have been straight out of one of her sisters romantic novels started to fill Kel's head. She tried to shake them off but Dom's grip on her hand wasn't helping in that respect.

'Dom what are you-'

His fingers cut of the rest of the question and suddenly Kel's lips felt all tingly were his fingertips were touching them. She could have finished the question if she'd wanted to, but Dom obviously wanted her to stop.

Her heart was racing and Kel was sure that her face was probably already starting to flush. Why did it have to be Dom that had this effect on her? Dom who loved her as a fr-

All thoughts were cut off as Dom leaned forward and pressed his lips to her softly.

And suddenly Kel had forgotten how to breath again.

Dom's lips were warm and soft against her own, just the smallest amount of pressure behind them. If she wanted to, Kel could have stepped away. All she had to do was lean back slightly and then they wouldn't be touching anymore. And she was pretty sure that once she and Dom were no longer touching she would be able to think straight again.

Letting her eyelids flutter close, Kel leant into the kiss, one hand coming to rest on his neck, the other on his shoulder. She felt Dom's hands move to her waist before suddenly his lips were moving on hers and all conscious thought seemed to escape her.

Kel was in heaven.

-

When Dom felt Kel's hand move to his neck, Dom nearly cried out with joy. He'd not been thinking very clearly as to what he'd been doing when he kissed her, but he'd been clear-headed enough to give her plenty of room back away from him.

And she hadn't. She'd kissed him back, and oh what a kiss!

It was like Kel herself in so many ways. Confident, but not pushy. Gentle, but not weak. It was like he'd been waiting his whole life to do this, and it felt perfect. Their lips just seemed to click together in a way that Dom hadn't thought possible.

Pulling Kel closer to him, Dom deepened the kiss and was rewarded with a small sigh. Kel's hands moved to cup his face on either side and pull herself closer still to him.

'I'm sure I saw them come this way.'

And just like that the spell was broken. They seemed to pull away at the same moment, each taking two steps back to put some distance between them.

'Damn it,' Dom swore under his breath as Neal wondered by the door to the hut and caught a glimpse of them inside.

'What are you two doing in here?' Neal asked, taking time to note that both of them seemed a little flustered.

Dom seemed frozen in place, but Kel rallied admirably. 'Dom wanted my opinion on how best to use some of these huts this afternoon,' she lied.

'Oh, well the squire's have returned with some food,' Neal told them, trying his best not to show that he didn't believe Kel for one minute. 'It's not much but the kitchens are putting some more together for us as we speak.'

'Thank you for coming to tell us,' Kel said, only a small amount of disappointment registering on her face.

'I'm shocked you came looking for us Meathead. Less food for you with the two of us to feed as well.' Dom had managed to unfreeze himself and was now looking to get his cousin back for interrupting what was probably the most perfect moment of his life.

'And let the two of you starve?' Neal asked a little too dramatically. 'Yuki would never let me live it down. And speaking of my darling wife,' Neal looped his arm through Kel's and tugged her out of the hut. 'Apparently she needs to talk to you about something.'

Dom followed them out of the complex of out buildings and over to the hill were people were now arranging themselves around the five baskets bought back by the squire's. Watching Kel as she walked in front of him, Dom nearly groaned to himself. This picnic was going to be torture.

-

AN: Yes, they finally kissed! I've had so many reviews asking when it would happen, and they finally relented. I hope you guys enjoyed it now that its finally happened. And remember now I'm a needy writer- all reviews are appreciated (and reviewing makes you sexy :P)


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